The Quest of One
by WarlordMan162
Summary: We have been here for years. They have been hunting us, in order of our Numbers. They almost killed me, but my Cêpan and I escaped. We will find the others, but also the Unknowns. We know there are more Loric on this planet than just us. We are not the last ones. I am Number One, and I am ready for Mogadore to feel my power. Rated T for swearing, violence, and possible XXX.
1. Chapter 1

**I really hope you guys enjoy this story. This was my FIRST fanfiction. I decided to write this after reading The Fall of Five again, for the fifth time. The death of Eight was just too much to bear. Then I realized I felt the same for One, Two, and Three. I mean, what if they all survived? Just think of that when you read this story.**

**The Quest of One**

In the beginning there was Lorien. We left when we were young, almost too young to remember.

_Almost._

I remember the ground shook, that the skies were red, full of light and explosions. We were in that two-week period when both moons hang on opposite sides of the horizon, what we call the Quartermoon. It was a time of celebration, and the explosions were first mistaken for fireworks. They were not. It was warm. There was a soft wind. I am always told the weather.

What I remember most vividly was the way my older cousin Orin looked that day. His eyes were bloodshot and angry. There were tears in his eyes. I remember the glow of his eyes when he shot down a piken with his Legacy. I forgot what the Legacy was, though. There were words said by everyone there. I don't remember them, and as much as Hessu is trying to catch me up on speaking Loric, I can't understand them.

It took us a year to get here. I was 10 when we arrived. We were to assimilate ourselves into the culture—both Loric and human—before returning to Lorien when it could sustain life again. Nine of us had to scatter. None of them know where I am, and I don't know where they are, or what they look like now. That is how we protect ourselves because of the charm that was placed upon us when we left: a charm guaranteeing that we could only be killed in the order of our numbers, so long as we stay apart. If we come together, then the charm is broken.

When one of us is found and killed, a circular scar wraps around the right ankle of those still alive. Already residing on our left ankle, formed when the charm was first cast, is a small scar identical to the amulet each of us wears. The circular scars and pendants are another part of the charm—a warning system so that we will know where we stand with each other, and so that they know when _they'll_ be coming for _them_ next.

They are hunting us, and they won't stop until they've killed us all.

They destroyed my world, _my home_, and they sucked it dry.

I am Number One.

I know that they'll be coming for me first. I will make them pay.

**Well, this was the introduction to the book, sort of like from I Am Number Four, but yeah. Sorry this chapter was so short. It's just the introduction. You know the Elkin Spires that were on Lorien? That name Elkin might appear again. This story could include 0-2 sex scenes, but not that far in detail. I'm only 13 remember? Anyway, the story should probably last up to 20 chapters.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok. So this is Chapter 2 of **_**The Quest of One**_**. This takes place when One is attacked by the Mogadorians in Malaysia.**

**The Quest of One**

**Chapter 2**

I was so stupid. I should have never been trying to impress Wade. He was so full of himself. He wasn't even that cute. I mean, he was, but still.

Anyway, Hilde and I hide out in an abandoned hut on the Rajang River. Our closest neighbors are the endlessly screaming monkeys that inhabit the jungle. Hilde is planning a trip to Kuala Lumpur, where she'll take some money out of our overseas bank account. Adding up a few of the Loric gems, it should be enough to finance our next move. Honestly, it's peaceful here, without any distractions from America—no shoplifting, no surfing, no Wades—it is wonderful here. The jungles remind me a bit of what I remember about Lorien. Whenever the river is clear, I practice my telekinesis on its bank.

Then the monsters come.

Hilde shakes me awake just as a Mogadorians kick down the door. The sun has barely risen, and it feels like I am on Lorien, fighting for them.

My Cêpan moves so fast, as if she has some sort of speed Legacy. Hilde was a martial artist trainer of the Garde back on Lorien. She uses a fighting style that is a combination of jujitsu, Tae Kwon Do, karate, and Bojuka. It was the original fighting style of Lorien. We taught it to Earth thousands of years ago. But the only problem is I have the benefit of telekinesis, where it's a matter of sensing the subtlest of motions in a radius around reacting and me to it. Hilde, however, has to keep her enemies in front of her. She ducks effortlessly under a dagger strike, burying her fist in the throat of an off-balance warrior. I'm pretty sure Hilde broke his trachea, because the Mog begins to disintegrate. But before the first Mog is completely gone, Hilde wraps her arms around the head of another one, snapping its neck.

Another one dives for Hilde and gets her in a headlock. I am startled by this, and use my telekinesis to disrupt his muscle density. She moves so subtle that I barely see it, but she flips him onto his back.

I jump from my bed and gently punch her on the arm. "Nice job," I say in Loric.

"Thanks." Hilde replies back in her raspy Loric voice.

I then sense his hand moving for something on his side. I then realize it is some sort of long, cylindrical tube. He aims it right at Hilde, and I understand why: he is embarrassed to have been taken out by an old woman, and he is also scared that if I am shot, he will die. Just as hundreds of lights in the tube spark to life, swirling to become one, I rip the blaster from the Mog with my telekinesis. I catch it in the air and aim it at his head.

"Are you sure?" asks Hilde.

"I will make them pay." I reply, just as I shoot the Mogadorian in the head.

My heart starts racing, as my pendant gets heavier. The ground begins to shake, and in the back of my head, I see a boy. He is about my age, but is Mogadorian. He is crouched in the brush far away from my battle, shell-shocked. Two other figures sit next to him, both watching in excitement. Hilde tries to shake me out of the vision. A Mogadorian comes charging at me, sword rose. I'm not exactly sure what happened—it feels like my head might explode—but I think I developed two Legacies at once, because I raise my pulsating palm to the Mogadorian's chest, and a cone of freezing cobalt energy fires into the chest of the roaring Mogadorian.

_Wait… _I think. _I've seen this before, back on Lorien, when we left for Earth. He did the same thing to a piken…_

Hilde's eyes widen in admiration and fear. She ducks under me as I begin to lose control of my Legacy, firing the icy cobalt energy everywhere. They can't at all get close to me. Both of my warm hands combine energy and there is a great explosion. It doesn't hurt any of us, not even the Mogadorians, but it does blast all of them away from me. When it does, I get a stronger sense of confidence than before, and I see the boy again.

It looks like he is right here with me, hunched over, terrified from what I have just done to his people. I can see his features more clearly now: his face is all sharp angles, and he has short black hair. His body is very gaunt and skinny, something I haven't seen in most Mogadorians. Hell, if this kid wasn't that pale and, you know, eeee-vil, he could even pass for a Loric.

The light dissipates, and I realize that is what he was staring at: the light I created. It must be incredibly effective, because just before the light goes away, I look up, and see out of all of this, I see the star that Lorien rests next to, and shed a small tear.

The Mogadorians retreat, scattering throughout the jungle, where I guess we'll be meeting each other again. I look down, and see that the boy is still there, and somehow, I "teleported" him over to me. Hilde grabs the tube from the ground, where I dropped it. She aims it at his head, and his dark magenta eyes widen as the tube sparks alive with green lights. He prepares for her to fire.

"Hessu, wait," I say just before she fires the weapon. "Don't kill him yet."

"Why not?" she asks, partly frustrated with me.

"We can get Intel from him."

Instead of gunning him down, Hilde clips him on the temple with the butt of the tube.

"Go get our stuff," says Hilde.

The house collapsed when I created the earthquake, and I barely realize the carnage I have done: there is a deep crevice cutting through the jungle, along with many trees burned down. When I go to get the stuff, I decide it will be easier just to jump down into the rubble. Immediately when I take the jump, I slow down, and gently land on the ground. "Hilde?" I call out. She doesn't respond. It doesn't matter. Can I fly?

I locate our bags, and even a sac to put over Mog-boy's face. I try and decide whether or not to climb out or fly out. I decide I should try to fly. With all of my telekinetic energy, I jump into the air, and easily levitate out, not having to use a single thing to catch my footing. When I rise up, I see Hilde watching in awe.

"We need to leave." I say in Loric.

She nods and I stack all of the bags onto each other in a telekinetic grasp. Then we evade into the jungle.

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. As you can tell, this one was much longer than the first chapter. So, One has developed 4 new Legacies almost simultaneously and captured a Mogadorian boy. If you didn't guess this earlier, this boy is Adamus Sutekh. Sorry for the spoiler, but you should have guessed this. The next chapter might come later, because I have homework to do.**


	3. Chapter 3

**HELLO AGAIN INTERNET! Honestly, I was thinking of getting rid of this story, but then after my sister and I read the reviews, I realized that this story is liked, and I hope you guys make my story a recommendation to your friends. Thank you for your feedback from the following: EpicLoric24, IWishICouldBeLoric, and TheInsaneLoricWhovian. Hope you enjoy!**

**The Quest of One**

**Chapter 3**

"Come on!" I yell to Hilde over the screeching monkeys. "We have to move!"

Hilde is carrying the Mog boy behind me, whom is still knocked out. The wet, humid jungle air is getting to me, and I almost fall over, but somehow, even straining from my telekinesis, I stay upright, running through the rainforest. My enhancement kicks in, and I start sprinting through the early Malaysian morning, clearing trees and vines much faster than Hilde can keep up with. I eventually get to a clearing in the rainforest, drop the bags from mid-air, and fall on my back. Sitting here in the jungles of Malaysia reminds me of what Lorien looked like. I wonder if this is what I would be doing right now in Lorien's forest if the planet just lived on with the rest of us. All of this stress of nearly being killed needs to leave me. I get into my meditation position and close my eyes. Hilde and I did this when we were training my control of telekinesis.

_Let your mind drift, One. Go where you need to go._

Originally when she said this to me, I had no idea what she was talking about, and stopped meditating. I was 13 then, when I first developed my telekinesis. Then after she shushed me, I tried to clear my mind. Now I know what she meant. I breathe slowly, and then begin to feel the sun on my face, warmth that is much stronger than what Earth's sun can emit. And as I start floating in the air, I realize that I am no longer in this jungle, or in Malaysia, or in Southeast Asia, or even on Earth. I am above a vast expanse of treetops, trees that are unlike anything on Earth, and there is jungle as far as the eye can see. The sky is blue, and the sun beats down, a sun that is double the size of Earth's. Down below, deep ravines cut through the greenery. I am floating above one of them, though it is possible that I might have created them. Chimæra are drinking from the water below. There is a bend in the horizon far off in the distance, and I know I am on Lorien.

After a while of being on Lorien, exploring Lorien, reliving memories of my childhood, I wake up. It is about noon, the dense canopy catching beams of light. I look around for Hilde, and realize that I'm alone. Then I remember that I was running too fast for Hilde. She must be lost somewhere out there. "HESSU!" I scream at the top of my lungs. No answer. I shout her name again, waiting. Then I begin to panic. There is a very tall tree a few yards away. I pile the bags on top of each other and then leave them to fly up the tree. It doesn't do much to see where Hilde is, because screaming her name doesn't help at all. I gently float back down. The moment my feet hit the ground, there is a rustling in the bushes. I turn to face it, ready to shoot whatever comes out of the dense brush. Only it is Hilde carrying my Loric Chest and the Mogadorian.

"You scared me!" I say, lowering my hand. She puts down the Chest and throws the Mogadorian to the side. Then, unexpectedly, she begins to laugh. "What's funny?" I ask. "What the hell happened back there?"

"Uh, you ran too fast." Hilde replies, still laughing.

"I mean with my Legacies!" I explain. "How did I do all of that? It was like there were a bunch at the same time!"

Hilde stops laughing and her face becomes serious. "Do you remember anything about the cities on Lorien?" she asks. "Anything about the Elkin Spires?"

I think back to Lorien, and try to remember as much as I can about the city. All that I can remember about Capital City, _Yes, I think that's right,_ is that I had a birthday party there. It was probably my fifth or sixth. Also the Eilon Park, and these really tall, thin pyramids standing out in the middle of the city, next the Eilon Park.

"Those buildings standing near Eilon Park, were those the Elkin Spires?" I ask.

Hilde nods. "There is a power that all the Nine Elders had," she begins. "A very small amount of the Garde had this power too. It was a power to develop and manipulate many Legacies at the same time, called the Elkin Surge.

I stare at her for a second. "So does this mean I'm Pittacus?" I ask her jokingly.

She lets out a small laugh, "We'll see when you turn twenty," says Hilde. "Until then, we need to review what those Legacies were and how you can train with them."

We tie up the Mogadorian by his hands and lift him into a tree. He is still unconscious as we review over my Legacies.

"Okay, so the first one I developed was some sort of earthquake creation." I say.

"That's Tectomen," she explains. "It is the Legacy to control the ground around you. As you might already know, it can be used to create earthquakes."

"Cool," I reply. "The other one was the ability to shoot lasers from my hands. It felt like my hands were getting roasted though. And I think I saw Orin do it on Lorien to a piken."

Hilde's eyes widen. "You remember your cousin Orin?"

I nod. She continues. "That's Mæsor. It is the Legacy to shoot icey blue cobalt energy from your hands. Until we get complete clarification, that is not your major Legacy."

I sigh, a little saddened by not having my major Legacy yet. "Okay. As you know, with our little friend here, I think I'm able to teleport things to me."

"You can probably teleport yourself to other places too," says Hilde. "It's dangerous, and was rarely used among that many Garde, because you need to disperse your molecules, which could have horrible affects. But that one, we'll have to train with most."

For the last Legacy, I display it by shooting into the air. This isn't like the shaky levitation I used with telekinesis on myself multiple times; I'm faster, more precise, and in control. I fly about 100 feet in the air, and then slowly descend back to the ground.

"That's an easy one," says Hilde, smiling. "Sonic flight. You can soar through the air at great speeds."

"That's awesome," I say.

"Whenever you're ready, we'll begin your training."

"So," I start off, looking at the Mog, "what are we going to do with him?"

I already know what Hilde wants to do with him: she wants this Mogadorian dead. Honestly, a part of me wants him to live. Unlike the other two that were with him, he looked terrified. Not of his soldiers dying, but more of me. Not to mention, those Mogadorians had United States emblems on their shoulders, along with the Mogadorian symbol, but still, if he can understand what we are saying, we can interrogate him and possibly even get some Intel on Setrákus Ra. I tell Hilde this, and then we find two trees that are close together, and tie his wrists to some low hanging branches.

"Okay," says Hilde. "We'll interrogate him tomorrow. But before we do that, we're opening your Chest again."

My excitement takes over. "Finally! Thank you!"

She gets out a sleeping bag. "Tomorrow," Hilde says strongly. "Now get us into that tree."

"I'll do that for opening the Chest now," I joke.

Hilde laughs. "Yeah, not happening."

I use my telekinesis to create a nice makeshift tree house, and keep the Mog a few trees away, his feet positioned on a thick branch, his hands still tied to the trunks. Hilde goes to sleep the second that night hits. I don't blame her. We almost freaking died today, thanks to that kid's people. But when she goes to sleep, unlike normal nights, when I relive good memories about Lorien, I stay up for a few hours after midnight, watching the Mogadorian sleep, and reawaken. I convinced Hilde to uncover his head otherwise he won't be able to breath. I can see his features better than before. He is actually kind of cute. Not cuter than Wade, but for a Mogadorian, he is fairly attractive. I try to banish this thought from my head multiple times, but it doesn't work. Eventually, after I realize that he is watching me as well, I move away from the side of the tree house and go to sleep.

~~~**Adam's Narration**~~~

The Lorien girl has been watching me. I wonder what Ivanick would give to be here, in the Garde's camp. If that is what the Loriens can do with their "legacy powers," than I need to break out of this camp as fast as I can. The old Lorien lady was talking earlier, and I know what she want's to do to me. If they're going to torture me, they should do it already. But the way that the girl looks at me makes me think that she doesn't want me dead. In reality though, if I do escape, I don't want my only Intel for the General to be that I was checking out a Garde. Even though it's uncomfortable in the stance they put me in, I go to sleep, thinking of the Lorien girl. Banishing her from my mind doesn't work.

**Well, there's Chapter 3. I know it's longer, and yes, I know there isn't as much action in it, but EpicLoric24, you wanted me to describe One's new Legacies, and I did, so there you go. Anyway, sorry this chapter was so late. I had a lot of homework to do. But hey, it's going to be summer vacation in 2 weeks, so I'll probably be writing much more, and learning parkour, and going to the beach, and… Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please leave your criticism in the reviews. Thank you for your support. P.S. I have finals this week, so I'll probably be posting next week. Anyway, it's late, and I have to go to sleep. Bye!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I managed to squeeze in a new chapter. The only finals I needed to take today were science and language arts. And since I am great in those subjects, I decided to continue writing. So here's Chapter 4. I know that a lot didn't happen in this chapter except for Adam getting tortured, and One talking with him. But trust me, in the next chapter that Loric Chest is opening. Enjoy the story!**

**The Quest of One**

**Chapter 4**

~~~**Adam's Narration**~~~

I am awakened by water getting splashed in my face. I cough trying to get it out of my lungs, breathing heavily. My vision is blurry, thanks to the Lorien bastards. It takes me a few seconds to blink it out of my eyes. When it is completely out of my eyes, I see the old lady holding an empty bucket. It looks like she's hovering. _She doesn't have legacy powers, does she?_ I think. Then I see the girl sitting down below in a small pond. She isn't wearing anything but her underwear, and she is staring at the woman in deep concentration. That's when I realize that this girl must be using her telekinesis power to hold the woman up. I remember hearing about the Garde's horrid ability to use their mind to move objects. But watching how this girl gently raises her companion in the air doesn't make this telekinetic ability seem all that horrible. And the way the girl's blonde hair—it looks almost pinkish in the sunrise—flows behind her… wait, what am I thinking? I can't believe I really _am_ checking out my enemy. "So, Mogadorian," the old woman starts off, "what is your name?" I begin to panic, worried that she will ask more questions. My fear is that if I give these creatures my name, and they get captured, and know as much as they can about us, they'll be able to find me by name. I run this thought over in my mind, and then I answer in Mogadorian.

The old lady looks frustrated, and punches me in the stomach. "I'll ask you again, what is your name?" she says in a much stronger tone. Once again I answer in Mogadorian. She punches me even harder than before, still suspended in the air. I cough up a bit of blood. She looks at the girl, and nods towards a branch. The Lorien girl gently levitates her over to the thick branch, and then back to me. "So, where are your bases in the United States, "asks the woman. "Or even better: where are your bases all over the world. Once again, I answer in my native tongue again. All of a sudden, she raises the branch and smashes it across my head. I cringe through the pain, and I can see the girl do the same. Not in pain, but in pain of watching me get hurt. The old woman asks me the same two questions multiple times, me answering the same way: in Mogadorian. She beats my head with the branch every time. The girl eventually lets the woman down, leaving me in a concussion. When I come too, I see the woman in front of me again, holding the same bucket, now refilled, and also with a rock. It is a sharp rock; possibly sharp enough to break the skin. The woman holds it up to my face, smiling deviously. "We have a lot to talk about, Mogadorian." This was going to be one hell of a day.

It has been about 4 hours, and I have been interrogated so much that I wish they could just kill me. I think back to when I first answered in Mogadorian. _Damn it, why didn't I just tell them? _I think. _All of this could have been prevented._

My body is battered and bruised, cuts all over my abdomen, arms, and hands. Well, on the bright side, they let me keep my essential parts—my tongue, eyes, fingers, teeth, and toes. They take a break when the girl gets tired. They go hunting for a few minutes. After a while, they come back with some fish and a weird type of bird. The old woman even gathered some berries. Maybe some of them are poisonous, but immediately after I think this, I take it back, worrying that if they die, I'll be left alone to die here in this jungle. In truth, I am actually enjoying their company, even the old lady who tortured me. I mean, sure they haven't spoken a word of English to each other since I've been awake, speaking in some weird language that sounds like a mix between French, Spanish, and Russian. The girl starts a fire with her mind by rubbing two stones together so fast that no one could do it naturally. They eat their food, and talk to each other. I don't understand what they're saying, but I think they are talking about that weird intricately carved, brittle-looking box with some weird Loric symbol on the side. It's about the size of a microwave oven, almost perfectly square, about a foot and a half.

The girl says something in Loric that I can't understand. All I know is that it is about me. The old woman nods, and the girl flies straight up towards me. She is within inches of my face. "Okay, so I'm sorry for what my Keeper did to you," she starts. I just nod. "We have just been running from your people for a while now, and now that we finally have one of you, I think she is kind of pissed she can't straight up kill you. So we just need to ask you a few seconds, and then we'll be done. So how old are you?"

I answer in Mogadorian, but I hesitate a little. She smiles at me. "You look around my age, probably a bit younger though," she says, having a slight accent that sounds almost like French. I didn't notice it before when her "keeper," or whatever, was talking to me. "So, what?" she asks. "Like 13, I'm guessing."

That's weird, because that is exactly how old I am. The girl sighs. "I didn't want to have to do this, but…" she says, untying my left hand. I struggle, but she grabs it with her telekinesis, and places a knife in it. Then she puts her hand around my wrist, and lifts the knife toward her chest.

_Oh my Ra… _I think, panicking again. _She is protected by the Loric charm, like the boy in the Alps. If she forces my to stab her, I die._

I don't want to kill this girl. Not just because I don't want to die, but if she is bluffing, and she is Number One, I don't want to accidentally kill her.

I pull my hand back, and start to sing like a canary. "My name is Adamus Sutekh," I say.

She cracks a half smile. "Go on," she says, squeezing my hand. "Tell me about yourself."

Then all of a sudden, she unties my other hand, and almost lets me fall over, but catches me with her telekinesis. She then flies both of us to the ground. The Keeper keeps a close eye on me, holding the branch. "Whatever you're going to do to me, just do it, and stop toying with me!" I shout.

"Chill!" says the girl. "We're not going to hurt you." She looks over to her Keeper. "We're not going to hurt him, right?"

The Keeper looks for a while, and finally says, "Not if he does what we want."

The girl sits down, and grabs a fish. She hands it to me, and invites me to sit down with her. "I don't understand," I say, studying the fish. "Why are you treating me like this?"

"Because unlike the other Mogadorians, I feel like I don't want to kill you," she starts. "You're different. Unlike the other two who were with you, probably rooting for one of your soldiers to kill me, you seemed to be terrified."

"Well, yeah," I explain. "You were killing my people, god dammit."

She stares at me. "Not all of those things were your people," says the Keeper. "We know the secret: Mogadore is dying, and you're creating vatborn beings to keep your race alive. That's sick! Do you really consider those monsters your people?"

I don't answer. I just eat the fish, which isn't poisoned. "Not to mention," says the girl. "If you know more about us, would you still want to kill us?" I still don't answer. "Well, if we knew more about the Mogadorians, mainly you," continues the girl, "we wouldn't want you dead either.

~~~**One's Narration**~~~

He tells us a lot about himself. He really is 13, and his human name is Adam Sutton. He tells us about the night of the First Great Expansion, about how he wanted to come down from the ship and see the Loric, not kill them. Hilde wants to know about everything though, like where their bases are, and what their ships look like, but I try to get her to stop. He was 8 when the First Great Expansion happened, and his father slapped him to stop him from crying, while this other Mog, called Ivanick, was watching, and dumbly sucking his thumb. Adam even tells us about Mogadore. The planet is smaller than Earth, as I already know, and most of it is crowded cities. With all of the lakes and rivers polluted, and most of the oceans dead, the Mogadorians created giant subterranean tunnels, sort of like a _City of Ember. _The cities are not as big as the ones on the surface, mainly because the one's down below are the command centers for creating the vatborn Mogs, which are the ones with the powers, such as great strength, speed, no empathy. Then he tells me about how his father pretty much adopted Ivan as his trueborn son, and not Adam. A part of me hates his father even more for loving Ivan, some stupid brute whom, from the way Adam describes him, is WAY too prone to violence.

Adam has a little sister named Kelly, which reminds me of one of my human names before this one, which is weird, because at the moment, I have no human name. At the moment I am just One. But just as a cover in case this doesn't work, I tell him my name is Asia. It's the quickest thing that comes to mind here in Malaysia.

I tell him about my life back on Lorien, about my nearest memories of me at my 5th birthday party. Even the bad memories about Earth, like when that cheerleader kept bullying me in 6th grade, and I eventually punched her in the face. My enhancement was up, so when I did it, I'm pretty sure I broke her jaw. Hilde hates it when I talk about that story. Adam, whose face has been serious the whole time, softens up, and laughs when I tell him about the cheerleader. I choose not to tell him about Wade, and instead ask him one final question: "Did you see Lorien after your people were through with it?"

He doesn't answer, but eventually shakes his head. I exchange a glance with Hilde, and we open the Chest together. She pulls out the velvet bag with the solar system in it, and we let them fly out into the air, expanding as they go. Eventually, the glass orb that represents Lorien is about the size of a baseball. I grab it out of the air. Hilde looks at me, and tells me to shoot it with my Mæsor. I am confused about it, but I obey her, and fire a small round ball of the energy at Lorien. The glass orb shows what Lorien looked like before it was ruined. Adam stares in awe as the globe transforms from lush green jungles and blue seas, to a gray, dead world. When it completely returns to gray, Adam's face goes from what sort of looks like a smile to a sad frown.

"What happened?" he asks.

Before Hilde can answer with what I already know what she'll say: "You're people happened," I cut her off and say, "That's what Lorien looks like now."

Adam looks extremely disturbed at what his people have done to Lorien. "All of those dreams about becoming the Beloved Leader of the United States," says Adam. I crack a laugh at the fact of him dreaming about becoming some sort of evil dictator of the United States, but both of them shoot me a look, and I know I should have stayed quiet. "If that's what Earth will be like, then what's the point? There will be nothing left to rule."

"That's why we were trying to tell you about this," says Hilde. "We're not trying to kill the Mogadorians yet. But what we are really doing here on Earth is to wait until the other eight develop their Legacies, and then we can go home and revive Lorien."

"Then you'll leave Earth alone?" he asks.

"Yes," replies Hilde. "The planet is all yours after we're gone."

The look on his face shows that he really doesn't want to do anything to this planet. "Trust me, I really had the thoughts of conquering the United States," he begins. "But Earth is the only hope of our planet surviving. Our women die when they give birth, and our population will die in a few hundred years. But if our progress is just burning down planets, then what the hell is the point? Earth might not be the paradise the Lorien was, but it's close, and I can't let my species screw this place up more than this world is already doing to itself. If you want to stop the Mogadorians, then I'm in."

Hilde and I exchange a look, and I nod to her, acknowledging whether or not we should trust this Mog. I look deep into his pupil-less, magenta eyes, and I can tell that he isn't lying. I decide to trust him. The way Adam told me about his "Mogadorian progress" makes me think he doesn't agree with everything in his supposed Good Book.

"Okay," I say. "_We _trust you."

"Thank you," says Adam. "I can get you Intel on the Mogadorians easily."

~~~**Adam's Narration**~~~

Instead of tying me up again, Asia creates a smaller, yet comfortable shack out of branches. Hilde wants to build a fence around it to keep me from escaping, but Asia objects, and instead makes a small door that I can barely climb out of. Eventually, when I'm locked up, they open the box, and Asia removes a flat rock every bit as dark as the aura around my eyes. She opens up the shack, and is about to press the rock to the side of me, where I was stabbed. I let her do it without hesitation, and the moment the rock touches my skin, the pain returns, probably double the amount from before. I scream and writhe in pain as she holds it there for a full minute, then pulls back. When I look down to see my wound, it's gone.

"What is that thing?" I ask, nodding at the rock.

"It's a healing stone," says Asia.

"Stuff like that really exists?"

"On Lorien it did, but the pain of healing is double that of the original pain caused by whatever has happened," she explains. "And the stone only works when the injury was done with the intent to harm or kill."

"Oh," I say. "Well, thanks."

Before she leaves and ceils off my exit, she asks me, "I can trust you, right?"

The way she stares deep into my eyes makes me wonder.

"Yes," I say. "Yes, you can trust me."

She smiles, and then leaves.

_She can trust me… _I think. _Right?_

**Okay, so I recently found out that my book report that I worked very hard on only got an 83! How is that at all fair? I worked so hard on that book report, and my teacher just spat on it! I did a 7 slide PowerPoint on **_**I Am Number Four: The Lost Files: Secret Histories**_**, and she asks, "What is **_**ravine**_**, or what is **_**Ghost-One**_**? Um, maybe if you read the book, then you'll know! I mean I didn't say that, but still. Anyway, I have to go do these weird things for school. Bye! P.S. I might also be making a new story on Hunger Games, Minecraft, or maybe even Assassin's Creed. Okay, now goodbye for real.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Finals are OVER! FREEDOM! No more studying! Now all I have to do is get through the rest of this week, and up until Thursday of next, and I AM DONE! Sorry I haven't been posting recently, but my laptop's charger is broken, and I constantly have to use my sister's. But she brought her laptop and charger to school a few days of the week, so my computer was dead. The only way I managed to write was because I was using power from my old charger (which almost got me electrocuted.) Anyway here's Chapter 5.**

**The Quest of One**

**Chapter 5**

It has been 3 years since the Mogadorians tried to kill me. 3 years since my Elkin Surge. 3 years since I met Adam. Originally, we were planning on hiking deeper into Malaysia, but then when we got there, many vatborn Mogadorians attacked. Adam helped kill them all, while Hilde and I took care of the rest. That was a month after we met. Hilde had the crazy idea to go to the continent of Asia. The trip there would be risky, but we did it anyway. Later, we found a boat to get us across the sea. It took us 3 weeks to get across the sea without navigation except for the stars. When we got there, we went to Kuala Lumpur to pick up some money. We got enough for food and water and to buy a jeep to get deeper and deeper into the continent. After a year, the jeep stopped working permanently. The three of us had to go on foot. A few times, we actually opened the Chest.

Once inside, I found some awesome stuff. First, I found this cool blade. It could change shape and size, and it glowed. The material looked like it was made out of Loralite, sort of like my pendant. The other thing was a weird crystal ball that made me sick the first time I touched it. According to Hilde, it could take Legacies away and lock them inside the crystal. Might come in handy never! When would we possibly need to take one of our own Legacies away?

When we were taking stops on our trek of the Asian continent, Hessu told me everything about my life and purpose on Lorien. "Where to begin?" she started. "Your mother's name was Nara. She was brave and powerful, and she lived her life in integrity and purpose. She parents carried out these traits until the very end, even when she knew the war was unwinnable. And that's about all any of us can really hope for, to die with our dignity, to die with honor and valor. To die knowing we did everything we could."

When Adam heard this, I could tell by the way he looked at the sky that if he was going to die, he was going to die doing what was right, even if that meant killing his father and adoptive brother, which honestly, after the way he talked about both of them, wouldn't surprise me if at the end of this, his sword would have their blood and ash on it's blade.

"I met your father only once. His name was Nori and, like your mother, he was quiet and maybe even a little reserved. I tell you this because I want you to know who you are and whom you come from. You come from a simple family of simple means, and the truth is that we didn't leave Lorien because of where we happened to be that day. Our being at the airfield, it wasn't sheer happiness. We were there because when the invasion happened…"

She trailed off, staring at Adam. "Could you give us a minute, please?" said Hilde.

He nodded. It was an odd nod, almost as if he was bowing, and walked away from our camp, staring off into the night sky, possibly daydreaming: either about things slightly getting better on Mogadore, or about Lorien returning to its glory.

Hilde continued. "When the attack began, the Garde rallied together to get you there. Many were sacrificed in the process. There were supposed to be 10 of you, but… 25,000 years ago, what happened?" she asked.

"Every problem that Earth has, Lorien also had." I replied.

"Not only that, but there were Secret Wars," explained Hilde. "Conflicts between the Mogadorians and Loric that were covered up to keep the illusion of our utopia. They were mostly filed under something ironic and unnoticeable. Probably something that sounded human but would appear Mog-worthy, like "Project Morlock."

I laugh at this. The first Mog I ran into was when I was 12, and I immediately thought of the Morlocks from _The Time Machine_.

"The Tenth of the Elders fought in this war, but was one of the casualties. After a lot of deciding and secrecy, the Elders reduced their amount down to the Ennead. There is a truth behind all of this: we cannot wait for Lorien to somehow be habitable again. The planet itself is still "alive," hibernating. But you and the rest of the Ennead will need to restore it with the Phoenix Stones, ancient Loric artifacts used by the First Elders to resurrect our planet. Each Phoenix Stone is bound to the Nine Loric Elements: Wind, Water, Fire, Earth, Rock, Animals, Plantlife, Sky, and Creation, although, it doesn't have to be in that order. These items are in each of your Chests, including a Macrocosm to know where you are, just like the Glass Orb Solar System. When you all have developed your Master Legacy, and have defeated the Mogadorians, we will return to Lorien, and she will rise from the ashes…"

After this, I did more training. But something was distracting me: Adam. Over 2 years of being on the run, we sort of developed an intimate relationship, at least when Hilde wasn't around.

~~~**Adam's Narration**~~~

She kissed me. Asia kissed me when we were trekking through the bamboo forests. Honestly, I'm a bit surprised. Even though we've become close, there has to still be a part of her saying that she wants me dead. But until then, I'll be helping them.

It has been about three years since I joined them, and we make it to Europe soon. Asia is 17 now and I'm 16. I try to remember how old Ivan is; he was two years younger than me, so I guess he is now like 14. We try heading to London.

"Big banks there." Hilde says.

She's right though. I warn them about a Mogadorian base there just in case we start getting chased and they accuse me. We get an apartment, finally out of the rain. In the apartment, Hilde sets up a huge bank of scanners and monitors in the bedroom. Somehow, Hilde knows how to hack into every single security camera in London. At the bottom row of monitors, there are news reports and research about three key words: **BRANDING/TELEKINESIS/SUPERNATURAL/MANA/TWO/THREE**

I forget to ask where One, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, and Nine are, but it doesn't matter. After a few hours, we see a blog post with just a few, tantalizing words: **NINE, NOW EIGHT. ARE THE REST OF YOU OUT THERE?**

**Again, sorry I haven't posted recently, and sorry this chapter was short. It took me a while because I was working on another story. I'll give you a hint: **_**We lived in an electric world. We relied on it for everything. And then the power went out. Everything stopped working. We weren't prepared. Fear and confusion led to panic. The lucky ones made it out of the cities. The government collapsed. Militias took over, controlling the food supply and stockpiling weapons. We still don't know why the power went out. But we're hopeful that someone will come and light the way.**_

**So I guess you've already guessed. Anyway, don't forget to tell your friends about my story. The next chapter will include a mystery about the Loric charm, and possibly a mystery about the Mogadorians, also, the Unknowns. Even though my creativity is flowing in, I need ideas on who they are. Here's how you should list your ideas for them. You can only do original characters, whether they are Garde or Cêpan. If they're Garde, list their Legacies. So please don't give me something like every single review being a Garde. All Garde have Enhancement and telekinesis, so there really is no need to list those two, but if you want, you can. 6 Legacies max. The age limit is 11-35. Please include the Pilot first, whom I would prefer to be a Cêpan.**

_**Name:**_

_**Age:**_

_**Gender:**_

_**Appearance:**_

_**Personality:**_

_**Legacies (if Garde):**_

_**Garde or Cêpan:**_

_**Location:**_

_**Background (include what they were doing on Earth, and if they know about the war):**_

_**Loric Chest (please don't include Phoenix Stones, because only the Ennead have those):**_

**So please leave this list in the reviews, also tell your friends! Summer will be soon!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you for your feedback about the Unknowns. Here's Chapter 6.**

**The Quest of One**

**Chapter 6**

"**Nine, now eight. Are the rest of you out there?**" I state. "That makes like zero since, because if Number One died, you would receive a scar, right?"

She looks at Hilde for a second. I'm confused. Were they lying all along? There really isn't a Loric charm?

"I'm tired of lying!" she says. "I am Number One. Number Two must be in the same area, because if we come in the perimeter within 15 miles of the number after us, then a scar forms on them, and they'll assume we're dead.

Hilde shoots One a look after she tells me this. My body fills with shock. If they killed her earlier, then I could've just gone home, and not have to live as if at any moment, I could die. So I guess none of this was worth it? How the hell is that at all fair? I spent **THREE YEARS** of my life, having to drive around in some old van, and then have to walk on foot for miles through the Asian wilderness? And yet, even as I think all of this, my voice remains silent. There's nothing to say, because even though I want to grab a knife and cut them open, finally getting my father's love, I want to help them, and I don't want another planet getting destroyed, because my people are "Morlocks." They still need to be stopped. I walk over to the computer.

"Can this thing track the exact coordinates of where this was posted?" I ask.

Hilde hesitates, but then answers, "No, not exactly, but just with enough Intel, it was posted here in London."

"If we get to the Mog base, we can get the exact coordinates, down to the device that sent it." I reply.

"Where's the Mog base?" asks Hilde in suspicion. "And not to mention, after what you know now, how do we know you're not leading us into some sort of trap?"

"The London-based Mogadorians have commandeered five floors in a downtown skyscraper that serve as their base," I reply, looking at the monitor once again to notice that it had been posted by an account called Two. "Since it's Number Two, my father will be here. They run a tight ship, but they've never been visited by a trueborn as high ranking as my father."

"What's so special about your father?" asks One.

"He is the great general Andrakkus Sutekh," I answer sarcastically in a Mogadorian accent.

Right when One laughs, there is the loud zoom of a vehicle going past our apartment. We look out the window to see a bus trundling down the city. One collects all of our stuff with her telekinesis, and creates a staircase out of rocks for Hilde and me, just after she blasts the monitors. When we get on the ground, we follow the bus, which is honestly moving too fast for all of us, but somehow, we catch up to it when it jerks to a sudden stop. The doors fly open—more like explode open—and panicked passengers begin streaming out. One of the rear windows explodes outward, a man flying through it. Before he can hit the ground, his body disintegrates into ash. "They're here!" I hear a human yell. We move out of the way as bright flashes of gunfire shoot outward, and then the back of the of the bus goes up in flames. As it does, I watch as a large red-haired man in his forties emerges from the front doors. He holds a submachine gun in each hand.

Most of the pedestrians are fleeing the scene of the flaming bus, like any sane person would. Except there are others that move towards the wreck: men in dark trench coats, shoving their way through the frightened crowd. The Mogadorian strike team has arrived. This man must be Loric. One of the men pushes past Hilde, not even acknowledging us. He's probably too focused on killing the Loric to notice us. The minute the first Mog gets to the Loric, a hail of gunfire greets him and the strike team, and they quickly take cover before shooting back. If my father and Ivan aren't out there yet, they will be soon. I should take pleasure in the fact that my dad will die, but I don't. Despite my hatred toward him, I don't want to see my father turned into a pile of ash.

After about half of the Mogadorians are mowed down, the Loric reloads, and pulls out a Beaumont–Adams revolver. He aims it right at my chest. I lift up my hands in surrender.

"Too late for that," he says in a Scottish accent just when he pulls the trigger.

I dodge out of the way. I'm a bit proud of that, because over all of the training with Hilde and One, I now have their reflexes. He continues shooting.

"Stop!" yells One.

He eventually stops, but he keeps the gun aimed at me. "I remember you," he says, more to Hilde than to One. "Hi, Hessu."

"I remember you too," says Hilde, or I guess Hessu. "Good to see you again, Cytis."

"Why were you protecting this?" asks Cytis, gesturing to me.

"He's been with us for the past three years, and has proven himself as a loyal ally," answers Hilde.

I reach out my hand, "Adamus Sutekh, but you can just call me Adam."

Cytis doesn't shake my hand, but he says, "Call me Conrad Hoyle," he looks at One. "So, three years. I'm guessing One over here has developed many Legacies."

One looks kind of pissed, and that's when I remember she's only developed one legacy since the three years I've been with her: Terrakinesis. "I had an Elkin Surge when I was 14," she says. "But the only Legacy I've developed since then is Terrakinesis."

While they're talking, I see figures moving out from the shadows. I rush into the bus to salvage some weapons. The inside isn't on fire, and it turns out that it's coated with gasoline on the outside, but the inside is coated with some weird residue. It's not from Earth, I can say that much. I grab a rifle and run outside. "This is really touching, but there are more Mogadorians on their way," I shout, just before I start firing off. One, Conrad, and Hilde run into the bus and get weapons for themselves. "I'll go to the Mog base and call them off!"

"Adam," says One. "You can't! They'll kill you!"

"I'll be alright!" I yell, still firing my rifle. "Fight with Conrad!"

Just before running off, I'm plucked out of the air by One's telekinesis. She lifts me over to her. When she places me on the ground, we kiss. Conrad and Hilde aren't paying any attention—thank Ra—because they're too busy lighting up the Mogs. "I love you!" says One.

I'm a bit surprised, but I reply back, "I love you too."

It really isn't that difficult to get through. On the bottom floor of the base, there aren't any guards, and no one wants to ask a Morlock a question, considering my species took over this building seven years ago. Eventually, I break into what I'm guessing is the research room. It's full of monitors that display videos of things around the world. There are only two techs in the room, and they barely even acknowledge me when I enter the room. I realize that it's because they are glued to the screen. On the screen, I see the Battle of London taking place with Conrad and Hilde and One fighting for their lives, but One creates an earthquake around the Mogs, in which they drop into the crack. Then, just for her to be sure, One closes the quake back up. I can feel the ground rumbling from where I stand.

"That'll be a problem," says one of the techs.

It's ironic because I read the blog post that's flagged over on another monitor. It's been there for five minutes, but they haven't even checked it. I destroy the traces to where this post came from, but leave it up, so they can know the Garde are here, and are fighting.

It takes me 10 minutes to get to the apartment where the blog was sent. It's an old redbrick town house, now home to three apartments, according to the buzzers outside. Luckily, an old woman is just leaving to walk her white, puffy dog, and I'm able to catch the front door before it closes. I race to the second-floor apartment, the only one not to have a name stickered to the buzzer downstairs.

I pound on the apartment door, probably too hard. If I was a fugitive—which I pretty much am—that kind of loud knocking would send me running to the fire escape. I hear startled movement inside the apartment, a TV being muted, and then silence. I knock again, gentler this time, and press my ear to the door. Muffled footsteps pad closer to the other side of the door, but I hear nothing. "Open the door," I whisper. "You're in danger." No response. "Your Cêpan sent me," I try. "You need to get out of here."

There's a lengthy pause, and then a small girl's voice answers. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Good question, but I don't have time for this. By now the trio is probably overwhelmed by the Mogadorians. I could tell this girl that her Cêpan is as good as gone, that my people will be looking for her soon. I could try breaking down the door, but I doubt I have the strength.

One teleports next to me, covered in blood and ash, but she still looks beautiful. Her deep blue eyes bore into my soul. "Tell her about the night _they_ came," says One.

"Why don't you do this?" I ask.

"I need to go back and help," she replies. "It's just because I somehow knew you'd need help. Tell her. I love you, Adam."

"I love you too."

We hug, and she materializes away. My mind goes back to when One told me about the Mogadorians invading her planet, and when they left. "I remember the night they came," I begin. "There were nine of us and our Cêpans, all running panicked. We saw a Garde fight off a piken. I don't think he survived. Then they pushed us onto the ship and…"

I trail off. Half a dozen deadbolt locks are unlatched, and the apartment door swings open.

Her alias is Maggie Hoyle. From what I saw of Conrad Hoyle, I'm expecting Maggie to be a minimilitant in training. Instead, she is the polar opposite of her Cêpan. Maggie can't be more than 12 years old; and she's small for her age, mousey, with a mane of reddish-brown curls hanging on either side of a thick pair of glasses. The only sign of Hoyle's influence is the small handgun she's holding when I walk in, the kind of polite-looking weapon a rich lady might carry with her in a bad neighborhood. Maggie looks relieved to set the gun down as soon as the door is locked behind me.

"Is Conrad alright?" she asks me.

The muted TV in the corner of the small flat is tuned to a news report, a helicopter filming the burning wreckage of Hoyle's bus drive down the road. It looks like we won the fight—as in the Loric insurgents, not Mogs. But we still need to move quickly. "See for yourself," I tell her as I walk over to the TV. Maggie looks at the television to see the bus barreling down the road, probably headed here. Not only is she way younger than I expected, but Maggie doesn't seem to possess any of the bravado I thought came prepackaged with the Garde after spending years with the Loric people. She's fidgety and nervous, not cool and confident, and not at all ready to fight. I take in the rest of the apartment. It doesn't look lived in. Maggie probably moved in within the last week. A layer of dust still covers the empty mantel and countertops. There's a small suitcase open next to a half-deflated air mattress, with piles of clothes spilling out onto the floor around it, and a desk with a bowl of cereal on it, a couple of marshmallows still floating in the pink-tinted milk. I scan the room, looking for the Chest that we've been taught all the Garde have, but I don't see it anywhere. Either she doesn't have it or she's found a good place to hide it.

Next to the cereal bowl is the laptop that brought me here. The computer is still open to the blog post, scrolled down to the bottom of the page where the comments go. The poor kid has just been sitting here waiting for someone to reply, and I'm the one who showed up. "You shouldn't have done that," I say, nodding to the laptop. Maggie looks guilty.

"I know. Conrad would be mad," she says, glancing over at the scene on TV. "I was just worried he wouldn't come back and…"

Maggie stops herself, looking embarrassed. She shouldn't have to finish; I know what she was going to say. That she was afraid she'd be alone. Fear. Loneliness. It was a similar blend of feelings that caused One to take it up with brain-dead surfers and start shoplifting. I don't really want to admit it, but they're the same feelings I had when I was taken to Earth.

"What number are you?" she says.

"Does it matter now?" I say, even though a part of me wants to say, "I am Number Ten." I think back to my course on Legacy preparedness. Our instructors warned us about so many different powers the Garde might have, and I try to think of one that could be helpful. "Is it too much to ask if you can teleport?"

"What?" she asks, not understanding.

"Your Legacies," I explain.

"Oh." She shakes her head. "No. Conrad says I'm a little while away from developing those." Maggie studies me as I walk across the room, kneeling down in front of your suitcase, putting the clothes back in it. "Why?" she asks. "What can you do?"

I don't answer. Next to the suitcase is a small backpack that I unzip to find filled with books, novels by human authors who I've never heard of, and maybe even a few Loric books. I dump out the books and begin stuffing handfuls of Maggie's clothing into the backpack. We'll need to travel light. I don't pay attention to what I'm packing, only that it won't be enough to slow her down if we need to run.

"What're you doing?" she asks, still rooted to the spot next to the laptop.

"Packing," I reply. "Grab only what you need. Definitely leave the computer."

Maggie doesn't make any move to help, but she does plug in a weird jump drive into the computer, probably downloading files. I can feel her watching me, trying to figure out what's happening. "I want to wait for Conrad," she says, her voice small but firm.

"He won't be coming," I reply, trying not to snap at her. I can tell that almost every Mogadorian will be on their tail. Even with One's power, I don't know if they'll win. I zip up the backpack and stand. "You have to trust me."

She lets out a little laugh. "Winston trusted Julia and look how that turned out."

Winston? Julia? I try to remember what I can about what Hilde and One have said, thinking that it's some kind of Loric saying I just haven't heard, or maybe they're some other Loric I should know; but I come up with nothing. I decide to guess. "I haven't seen them since we landed on Earth," I say.

"Um, they're from Earth," says Maggie. "Also, they're not real."

I stare at her, confused. "_1984_," says Maggie, seeing my confusion. "George Orwell?"

One of the books from her backpack. I shake my head. "Never read it."

"Who did you think I was talking about?"

"Uh—"

"You aren't Loric," she says, examining my gaunt face, my pale skin.

"No," I reply.

"And you aren't human either." This sounds more like an accusation. When I shake my head, Maggie inches towards where she set down her little gun. I don't make any move to stop her. She's perceptive. I can see the wheels turning in her head, analyzing her situation. She knows there is trouble, but she's not sure if it's on its way or if it's already here. "If you're one of them, why haven't you tried to kill me yet?" she asks. She reminds me of myself when I was her age: small, intelligent and holding on to a belief that she can think her way out of problems.

"I don't know what I am," I manage, realizing as I say this that it's the truth. "But I'm not here to hurt you.

I toss her the backpack. "You need to run. It doesn't matter if it's with me or from me. Just run." Suddenly there's a sharp, breaking sound, the apartment's front door splintering as if it is torn off its hinges.

"Adamus," snarls a Mogadorian as he strides into the room, and then walks up and hugs me. "Fancy seeing you again."

Streaming into the room behind the Mog are half a dozen Mogadorian warriors. Two of them stay posted at the door; the others fan out, covering the windows, cutting off any possible escape route. They're a well-oiled machine, the protocol in this situation is clear: contain the Garde at all costs.

I'm frozen in place. I'm not armed (I got rid of the rifle so no one in the Mogadorian headquarters would ask questions,) having forgotten to grab so much as a dagger on my way here. Even if I did try to fight—against trueborns, a concept I still haven't come to terms with—I wouldn't stand a chance. At least that's how I justify my cowardice. Maggie doesn't suffer any uncertainties. She might have given me the benefit of the doubt, but not Ivan and his strike team. She knows she's in danger. She executes a gymnast-caliber somersault towards the table where she set down her gun. Maggie moves more quickly than I expected, her fingers closing around the weapon.

But Ivan is quicker.

Before Maggie can grab the gun, he boots the table towards her. The edge his her right in the stomach, audibly knocking the wind out of her. Maggie, the gun, and the table go crashing to the floor. Maggie recovers quickly, already desperately scrambling for the weapon when Ivan kicks it out of her reach. It skitters to a stop just inches from my feet.

Ivan steps on the back of Maggie's neck, grinding her face into the dusty floor. He must outweigh her by more than a hundred pounds. Maggie thrashes, screaming in frustration and pain, but Ivan keeps her pinned as he lifts up his shirt, examining his rib cage. At first I don't understand what he's doing. But then I realize he's looking for bruises. If Maggie were still protected by the Loric charm, then the damage from when Ivan kicked the table into her would have been done to him_ unless_ she's next in line. Ivan just confirmed that Maggie is Number Two.

"Number Two," he says, a note of gruesome satisfaction in his voice. "My lucky day."

While Ivan has his shirt up, I notice a wound on his side. It looks like a bullet graze. Blood runs down his body, collecting in the waistband of his pants. He sees me looking and smiles proudly.

"Good to see you again," Ivan says, partly hugging me while his foot is still planted on Maggie. "So you've been spying on the Loriens for the past three years. Not the best way to waist time, but still, bravo to tracking them down."

That's when it hits me. Ivan doesn't know what I was doing here. All he cares about is that the protocol of his mission has just changed from apprehend to eliminate. Understanding that he thinks I killed Number One, Maggie begins struggling with vigor. She manages to slip from under Ivan's boot, but only gets a hard kick in the chest for her trouble. The way Ivan kicks Maggie is as casual as the way I watched my sister build and snuff out a piken. Maggie's down again, and this time Ivan presses a foot on her back. She coughs raggedly, and then cranes her neck to luck up at me. One of the lenses of her glasses is shattered.

"You said you'd help me," she gasps.

Ivan laughs. Some Mogs in the room crack smiles.

"Is that what he told you?" exclaims Ivan, amused. "Crafty Adamus! You always were the smart one. Come rushing over here all by yourself to claim all the glory, while the rest of us are out fighting."

Ivan waves his hand at the gun at my feet.

"Go ahead," he says. "_Help_ her." Sarcasm drips from his words.

I pick up the gun and hold it at my side. None of the Mogadorians in the room have weapons drawn. They really have no idea what I was doing here. Of course they don't believe Number Two. Why would they trust her over one of their own? I glance around the room and smiles. Ivan thinks he's just handed me a gift, and I know I need to play along. But what I'm really trying to figure out is how many I'd be able to kill before they returned fire? Two? Maybe three? I'd start with Ivan, I'm sure of that. The gun feels impossibly heavy. It's now or never. But I can't do it. I can't kill my own people any more than I could kill Maggie. I meet her eyes, large and pleading. I wish I could tell her how sorry I am, but the words don't come.

For a second I take in all of the Mogadorians. Each and every one of them is holstering Mog weapons, not human. Back at Ashwood Estates, I never remembered learning about human weaponry. I realize that I could possibly buy her some time. I cock the gun—actually unloading it—and shoot. But nothing comes out. "Must've been empty." I say, slightly winking at Maggie. She smiles a bit.

"Well that's embarrassing," sneers Ivan, unsheathing his dagger. "Whatever. You did your part."

Ivan reaches down and grabs a handful of Maggie's hair, jerking her head back to expose her throat. I see a weird choker around her neck: her pendant. A grin spreads across Ivan's face as he sees it too. He raises his dagger and stares at me.

"For Mogadorian progress!" Ivan shouts.

Something in me snaps. I've never felt anger like this before and it's almost comforting. I hate Ivanick, I hate Andrakkus Sutekh, and I hate Setrákus Ra! Just before the dagger slits her throat, I snatch Ivan's arm back. "What we're doing to these kids is _not _Mogadorian progress." Snatching the dagger out of his hand, I slam it into his bicep. He shrieks in pain, and the other Mogs in the room look surprised. Even Maggie is in shock. I pick her up from the floor, and she gathers her things as I take the gun and start firing.

About four are dead. One of them decides to get really bold and runs over to me, his sword waving. I don't know exactly how I do it, because I really don't understand any of the shit in the Good Book, but somehow, when I raise my hand to him, a greenish blue light outlines his body and he goes flying through the air. Did I just use telekinesis? I do this to the rest of the chairs and tables, giving us a sort of blockade. After Maggie has packed up all of her things, I pick her and the bag up and go sprinting towards the window. She throws something at the Mogs that I cannot see, and we jump out the window, falling 20 feet.

Somehow, I think I just made my own telekinesis. After two seconds of us being on the ground, there is an explosion on the second floor. My guess is that Maggie threw some kind of Loric grenade, because instead of the fire being orange and red, it turns blue.

A flaming bus zooms in front of us, and Conrad Hoyle opens the doors. "Get in! Get in!" he shouts.

I rush in and immediately rest in one of the seats as he drives us out of here. I lie there in the seat dry heaving.

One walks up to me. "What the hell happened to you?" she asks. "You look just like I did when I discovered my telekinesis."

She laughs at this, but when I stare at her for a while, her playful face becomes serious. "Wait," she says. "You mean you actually—"

"He saved me," says Maggie. "Adam saved me from the monsters."

"What the hell happened back there?" I ask, more at Conrad and Hilde than at One and Two. "How did I possibly develop telekinesis? I'm not Loric."

Hilde laughs when I say that. "Boy," starts Conrad. "You'll have a lot to learn about your own people in the next five hours."

I just relax for a few seconds after Conrad pulls over, extinguishes the fire, and we head for Africa.

**It's **_**SUMMER! **_**I mean summer vacation. It's not summer yet. But still, we're out of school and I'll never have to see those jerks again! Sorry it took so long to post, but I'm pretty sure I can promise you that the next chapter will be like Chapter 5, and the chapter after that will be like this one. So, if you thought in this chapter that I was implying that Ivanick is dead, you are wrong. He's still out there, and he wants Adamus reduced to ash, and wants to see the Loric dead. Hahahahaha! But don't worry. I'll probably kill off Ivan in a few chapters. Anyway, enjoy your summer my people! Also, does anyone know a good book series out there aside from this one, because every summer I always have a summer book or book series to read? Thank you.**

**P.S. if you do, don't include the Twilight saga, the Warriors saga, or the Hunger Games trilogy, because f*** Twilight, I read first two parts of the Warriors saga years ago, and I read Hunger Games. Actually, I don't think I ever finished Warriors! I have books! YES!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here's Chapter 7. I can't believe it just got cloudy on summer vacation! Btw, this chapter will be sort of like Chapter 5, you know, because it's of them travelling for another three years. Anyway, enjoy the chapter. Also, I need you to keep posting and sending OCs, because I did the math (I know: math during summer, weird, right?) and if you include Adam, the Cêpans, the pilot (whom is Cêpan,) and the two OCs sent by Escurido and Jeowolf, then there would be 22 people to restore Lorien. But I did **_**MORE**_** math (what the heck is wrong with me?) trying to see the couples, but there aren't enough girls. Just please post. Also ENJOY!**

**The Quest of One**

**Chapter 7**

~~~**Two's Narration**~~~

According to our Cêpans, the Mogadorians and Loric have travelled to Earth for thousands of years; sometimes we were here at the same time, and much of it was spent on friendly terms. But then something happened that ruined the relationship, and the Mogadorians left for a very long time—all of them did. When they started coming back, we're not sure. But what we are sure of is that the Mogadorians once possessed Legacy-like abilities long ago. But in 1910, you know, 100 years ago, the Mogs lost their abilities when they lost the ecosystem. I guess when Adam was living with the Loric, his soul decided to give his power back. 

I remember the day that he saved me. Conrad knew there were Mogadorians in the area when we moved to London, and went out to stop them. After that day I was almost killed, I realized they just exposed aliens to the world when all they had to do was wait for us to come to them. When I learned what he did with our bus, I needed the others to know that I needed help. According to One, she thinks that it was also a message to the Mogadorians to know that we were still fighting.

After realizing what Adam was, I thought I was going to die. But when the others came for me, he saved me. Ever since then, I've had a cool and confident bravado that Adam said he thought came prepackaged with the Garde.

Ever since I survived, we've been on the run. It has taken many weeks just to get to the edge of the island. Surprising, as it seems, we did not run into any Mogs on the way to the coast. For some reason, Conrad hated the idea of heading through Spain. But instead, we went to Stonehenge. There, I learned information about Lorien. The Secret Wars between the Loric and Mogadorians that happened thousands of years ago were held all over the galaxy. Here on Earth, Stonehenge was a Loric graveyard for those who died fighting on Earth. Conrad said something about a Loralite boulder being there. If someone had the Legacy of Teleportation, in which One does, we could find it and teleport it. The five of us took a year to get to Stonehenge, and it took about a week to get a reservation to go to the monument.

We found the Loralite and teleported to a cave. We're staying here currently, and I've developed my first Legacy: Shielding, better known on Earth as a force field. I expected this Legacy to just basically be forming a circular shield around me, but it was much more than that. We found a staircase, which turns out to be leading out into the Himalayas, so we practice out there, because One got a new Legacy of being resistant to heat and cold. It's called Thermosis, I believe. Conrad said that being resistant to heat could be a new Legacy called Lumen, but since she hasn't been setting herself on fire, or shooting beams of light out of her hands, I think she's good.

Each of us has been training in the same ways. One directs her Thermosis onto people around her, and practices with her Terrakinesis and Seismic Manipulation down on the foot of the mountain. We're also working on her range of all of the Legacies. We now know that her Teleportation can also be used to transport other people from a distance. The range is about 200, maybe 250 feet. The range with her Mæsor can shoot miles away, when she thinks about it. I know, because when we were training, Conrad stood on top of the mountain, while One was a few miles away from the mountain. When she focused, and shot, Conrad almost fell to his death, but Adam saved him. Adam seems to have made a good job at saving people.

I can tell the two of them are close, One and Adam; and I mean really close. Last night, I knew they snuck out of the cave, but I didn't follow them, not to mention the Cêpans were asleep, so what was the point? I just find it strange that One seems to love Adam, even though he is Mogadorian. Not to mention, whenever he's with One, Adam looks more human. His voice isn't even as harsh as it was before, and his skin seems to be getting tan. It is like One is healing him from this weird Mogadorian curse that was cast on all of them many millennia ago.

It's the nights that are the weirdest in these caves. One already remembers much more about Lorien than the rest of the Garde, mainly because she was 10 when we got here, but still, every night, she wakes up saying something odd in her sleep. Most of the time it wakes up our Cêpans, but sometimes, when she isn't screaming as loud, Adam walks over to sleep next to her, and she calms down more.

In the mornings, One tells us about these dreams. Usually, the dreams are about something like the pyramids being built, or the Nine Elders, in which she can say all by name and order. But sometimes, the dreams are stranger, like military strategies taught to the Romans, or how every Greek god was Loric. One says something about being in the wrong part of the cave; that there is much more to discover through the door to the far corners of the Earth.

I am honestly surprised that we did not notice this before. Carved into one of the walls are two sets of vertical lines, several feet high and spaced five feet apart. A small blue triangle sits between the two lines, with three more curved lines carved horizontally above it. One pulls her pendant over her head and presses it to the blue triangle.

Nothing happens at first, but after a tense moment the carved lines begin to deepen and spread towards each other. One lets the pendant drop to her chest. Dust shoots into the passage and all of us except One move back a few feet. When all the lines touch and there is the perfect outline of a door, the right edge separates from the cavern and swings open. A blast of warm air hits us, and I feel immediately mesmerized by a blue glow coming from inside.

"What's the blue light?" asks Hilde, and I'm a bit surprised that neither of our Cêpans knows.

"That's what'll help us teleport around the world," One responds.

There is a staircase, and as we climb up, One talks about what she saw in here during a dream: some types of cave paintings.

The stairs end in another room. The ceiling is domed and several jagged columns hold it up. I realize we're inside the peak of the mountain. The room is empty except in the very center, where an intricate set of rocks for a whirlpool-like pattern, radiating out from one central blue stone that's the size of a basketball.

_Loralite._

"Is the Loralite the reason you can go anywhere you want?" I ask.

"That's the thing," One sighs. "I don't think we can go _anywhere_. When we touched the stone in Stonehenge, it teleported us here, near another stone. So, anywhere where there is one of these Loralite boulders, I think we can teleport there."

As they continue talking, I distance myself a little to look at the orange cave walls. There are hundreds of symbols, paintings, and carvings, reaching as high as the very tip of the dome. "These drawings are amazing!" I say, trying to get them to see this. "Maybe there are some clues for us here."

My eyes are drawn to a faint green painting of a planet. Instantly I know it's Lorien. Below it, scratched in blue, is a female figure standing over a male, and both are holding sleeping babies. Rays of interrupted white lines come off the bottom of Lorien, ending just above the four figures. Carved next to the female's head, in a different drawing style, are three columns of alien symbols.

A few feet to my left is a simple black sketch of a triangular spaceship. There are intricate spirals and symbols on its wings, and a tiny, swirling constellation of stars on the blunt nose. The constellation is the same pattern as the Loralite stones in here. I turn to Hilde and Conrad. "Did you know about this?" I ask.

"We left Lorien in a very big hurry," answers Conrad. "The planet was under attack from the Mogadorians. We didn't have time to gather as much information as we should have."

Hilde starts. "We knew places like this existed, but no one knew exactly _where _they were or what they did. Clearly, for all the information we did manage to gather before we left, there were important things that we didn't get."

"Follow me, everyone," One calls out. "It just gets weirder and weirder."

She stops in front of a huge carving. It is 10 feet high and 20 feet long, split into different scenes, kind of like a comic book. The first panel shows a spaceship with nine children standing in front of it. Their faces are drawn in detail, and I am able to pick myself out easily. The next panel shows many Mogadorians crowded around who must be Setrákus Ra. The panel after it shows a blond girl bleeding to death. It's Number One.

"How is that possible?" asks One, her eyes wide and in shock. "It looks like when I was 14. How does that make sense?"

And then I see, in the next panel, under the foot of a Mogadorian—Ivanick—is me, bleeding to death, just like One, except I can tell I am in London, and am a year younger.

"Okay, none of this makes any sense!" I say. "Both of us are still alive, but this cave makes it look like we died ages ago!"

Adam studies the wall for a moment, and then looks back at the blue figure with the symbols. "Of course," he starts. "This is a prophecy!"

"What are you getting at?" asks One.

"Think about it, both of you are still here, but both of you were close to death when the cave says you "died," he explains. "You broke the prophecy by surviving!"

"So, kind of like _Final Destination_?" implies One. "Since both of us are alive, no one else has to die, not even Number Three."

She points at the picture of Number Three, a boy, impaled by a sword in a jungle. "That could mean we bought them some time, but it could also mean, we saved you, but the others are next," says Adam, staring at One's ankle. "We can't take any chances, though. We need to go find Number Three and save him."

After Number Three's death, it looks like the others survive. Number Four, a boy is running from the Mogs, and we see a levitating Garde floating above a burning building watching him. The only other death we might need to worry about is the death of another Garde, later from now. From the first panel, it looks like Number Eight. After his death, the next panel has Setrákus Ra lying on the ground with a sword held to his neck. The figure is so jagged it is hard to see who it is. There are dead Mogadorians around the monster and our hero. These last two panels don't seem to be finished. In the last one, there is a planet cut in half. The top half looks like Earth, but I can tell it is Lorien. The bottom half looks dead and barren, and there are two ships coming to both parts of the planet on opposite sides. Whoever drew this clearly didn't have a chance to finish.

"Okay, so Number Three is in a jungle," I start. "That gives us, Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America."

"Africa," says Adam. "That'll probably be where he is."

"Why do you say that?" I ask.

"I just have a feeling."

"Okay, then I guess we're headed to Africa," says One.

"Wait!" says Hilde. "I remember that I need to give you this."

The two of them open the Chest. Conrad smiles and gestures for me to come and open mine. He pulls out a red and silver rubber suit. It's Loric, obviously, and is made out of a much sturdier, much more flexible material than rubber. One has her own, which is a white and black. Adam turns around when we change into the suits. I feel more Loric than I ever have before. I remember the fake glasses I left back in London, and laugh about it. Conrad pulls out a stick from the Chest. He places it in my hand, and it expands into a sword. One has something familiar to my blade, but hers can change shape and size.

"Wear this suit under your clothes when we fight," he says as he puts the blade back in the Chest. One pulls her clothes back on over her suit and transforms the blade into a small knife that fits in her pocket. We go over to the Loralite, and prepare to teleport to Africa. We all have the destination in our mind, and I pray that there is a Loralite boulder there.

One teleports us, and we land in water.

~~~**One's Narration**~~~

_It worked!_ I think—or at least, it might have worked.

Two is floating above me. She is in panic, eyes wide, bubbles shooting out of her mouth. I try to reach for her, but I'm numb all over. This teleporting thing sucks. Eventually, Conrad and Hilde help us out of the water. The Chests somehow spawned right where we needed them: on dry land. When I get out of the water, the second thing I notice is the scorching sunlight. The freezing water evaporates quickly. The first thing I notice is that Adam is nowhere to be seen.

"Adam?" I yell. "Adam, where are you?"

I become frantic, terrified that I might have screwed everything up. I'm just glad that Hilde and Conrad are too focused on getting Two to start breathing again that they don't notice me screaming for Adam. It takes him a full minute to surface, his face in shock of being in water after just being in warm air. He crawls out of the water, and I pull him into a kiss. He is warmer—more human, less Mogadorian—than last time.

"Where the hell are we?" I ask Hilde, as Two jumps up, coughing.

Conrad stands up, water dripping down his side. He examines the area. "We're in the Gulf of Aden," he starts, and then points off to the coastline. "And that is Somalia."

Well, at least we're in Africa, just not in the best country.

We dry off and almost immediately, mosquitos come after us. Every mosquito that bites Adam dies after a few seconds. But it is weird, because every time one of them bites us, they seem to have a little burst of energy. Some of them that bite me go after Adam next, but instead of those ones dying, they contort, and buzz away.

"That's not good," says Adam.

When the mosquitos took a blend of my blood and Adam's, it created some horrible type of malaria. The Loric and Mogadorians being on Earth created a new disease. We needed to stop it, so we headed toward South Africa. That took us a year and a half, and almost 1/6 of Africa was infected. We managed to get access to a laboratory to make a vaccine out of our blood, since only Mogadorians and Loric were immune.

The vaccine took months to make, but we finally created a cure. Not only that, but our Legacies grew. I developed the Legacy to manipulate time and another to manipulate sound. Two increased in her Legacies. Two developed Telepathy and Telekinesis very fast, along with the Legacy to manipulate metal. Her intelligence could have been considered a Legacy, but we barely included it. So another three years on the run. The only difference between this time and last time was that Adam and I were much more intimate. Usually, whenever everyone was asleep, we would sneak out into an abandoned apartment or something.

I think that Two somehow found out, because she would always ask what we were doing last night. It's almost incredible how much she has grown. When Adam found her, she was small and timid, and could barely speak to us straight. But now, Two is 15 years old and is ready to fight any Mogadorian that attacks her.

After three long years, we finally have our first scoop that Number Three is here in Africa. There is word about a boy in Kenya having a strange ankle branding. The five of us steal a jeep and head north. If we prevent his death, maybe we can prevent the others as well. With all of us here, we can win.

**Well, there's Chapter 7. Not my best work, and not the best chapter, but I consider these timeline chapters as placeholders for the action. Also, not to spoil things, even though I will, here are your couples for this book series: One/Adam | Two/Three | Four/Sarah | Five/Fem OC (please post) | Six/Sam | Seven/Eight | Nine/Ten (they're only four years apart, so I think it's okay if they become a couple.) The Cêpans need some help though, because there are seven male Cêpans (if you include Crayton) and three female Cêpans. So please continue to post OCs. Remember…**

_**Name:**_

_**Age:**_

_**Gender:**_

_**Appearance:**_

_**Personality:**_

_**Legacies:**_

_**Garde or Cêpan:**_

_**Location:**_

_**Background:**_

_**Loric Chest:**_


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, so here's Chapter 8. Again, please keep posting OCs. This chapter will resemble Chapter 6, except it will probably be a bit longer. If I didn't say this already, Ivan is still alive, and I'm going over in my mind whether or not I want to kill him in this chapter. You know about pikens, right? If you watched **_**Godzilla**_** (you know, the one from this year) I'm describing the piken as those MUTO creatures from the movie, just smaller, not being able to fly, and more material-wise, if you know what I mean. Pikens can't fly anyway, that was just something stupid from **_**I Am Number Four**_**, the movie, but still. Also, you'll learn what Ivan and Andrakkus think of Adam's power. Anyway, enjoy!**

**The Quest of One**

**Chapter 8**

~~~**Two's Narration**~~~

The article we found is a few months old. In the article, while gushing about a small marketplace in Kenya, the writer describes a 14-year-old boy with a strange ankle branding that's unlike anything he's seen on other local tribespeople. The description bears a striking resemblance to the Loric charm.

"Considering its vague content," says Adam, "it is going to take the Mogadorian techs a little while to unearth it."

"But it's a few months old," I say. "Wouldn't they be there already by now?"

"Well, Mogadorians can't exactly blend in with this kind of community." Adam replies.

It is weird about how different he looks then the first day I met him. Adam almost has the appearance of a Loric.

"If Ivan and his small mind have anything to do with hunting the Garde here, and I strongly doubt that," explains Adam. "He'll want to wipe out the village this kid is in, but I doubt they'll let him do that either."

One laughs. She's putting on her clothes—she was only wearing the Loric suit. "You know they won't be taking another chance of losing that Garde," she says. "They'll be bringing the big guns."

"It's not just guns anymore," says Adam. His face is serious. "If they know you two are this powerful now, they'll be bringing the biological warfare."

"Like what?" I ask. "Like some sort of disease?"

"No," says Conrad. "Like the beasts. What are they called again, Adam?"

"Krauls are the small weasel-like creatures, fat, with short legs. Their teeth are like daggers. If the battle begins at night—and there will be a battle—it will be extremely hard to see them, because sometimes these things are jet-black. But we'll probably hear them coming before we see them, because they are always making this high-pitched yipping sound. The next are the lycanthropes."

"Werewolves?" I ask.

Adam nods. "That's why they're called lycanthropes. They are the size of wolves, hairless, and have yellow eyes. At night, they're eyes glow bright yellow. The trolls are next (Writers' note: yes, the trolls from _Infinity Blade_.) They stand at least 30 feet tall, and can tear the head off of a rhino and use it as a knife."

"Good thing there are no rhinoceros in Kenyan rainforests," says Hilde. "What else is there?"

"The second to largest predator: the piken," says Adam. "These will probably be the main creatures they send after us, if not the krauls. The pikens can ram through a house and leave nothing there when they're on all fours."

"Wow," I say. "They're that big?"

"Yeah, they're that big," says Adam. "Try having to be five years old and having one these things break into a city and run straight for you, standing upright, trampling hundreds of people in its path."

"That happened to you?" asks One.

"Yes, back when I was still living on Mogadore," he answers, the look on his face priceless. "Anyway, they have different types of them, but I think that by describing the pre-species, you'll understand what we'll be dealing with. The piken's teeth are every bit as long as a vatborn soldier is tall. Or at least that is how I see them, with mouths too small to hold the teeth. When these things bite down, it's not letting go. Thick, gray skin stretched tightly over slabs of muscle—it'll be extremely hard to see in the dark. No neck, its head sloped so that its lower jaw protrudes farther than its upper. Round disks at the sides of its head that pulsate with the beating of its heart. The paws have stubby short fingers with claws like a velociraptor, claws meant to rip apart anything they touch. Sometimes these things look like Minotaurs with six legs and snake-like skulls. We'll be able to know these things are coming because almost every few minutes, they emit an earsplitting roar."

The thought of one of these pikens ripping through the jungle coming to get us sends a chill down my spine. Adam keeps on explaining the monsters.

"Then there are the gargebears," he says. "Just don't confuse them for looking like actual Earth bears. These things look like gargoyles and can fly. Also, there are the vermelhexas, which have six legs and red skin."

Adam continues to explain the monsters—more about the different types of pikens, about the smaller, yet scarier subspecies, and about some reptile mutant-like creature that the Mogadorians call a tridentosaur. There are also this separate animal species from another planet the Mogs took over. These creatures are transparent—to the point where you can see their internal organs—and will probably never take orders from the Mogadorians. According to him, sometimes in the field these things try to attack the Mogadorians any chance they get.

"And finally, the last, and largest," says Adam. "The affe. The small name shouldn't fool you. These things look like great apes, but bigger, much bigger. The adolescents can grow to 50 feet incredibly quickly. The adults are big enough to wrestle a blue whale out of the ocean, and not even have to swim down to find one. They have horrible eyesight and sense of smell, but the affe's hearing is amazing. They probably won't use one of those beasts until the war intensifies."

"Your planet has quite an ecosystem," says Hilde. "So I'm guessing we'll have to worry about the herbivores as well?"

"Herbivores?" asks Adam, confused at the word. "I've never heard of that. I mean, I've heard the word, I've just never seen one."

No herbivores? How has his planet survived this long? A part of me feels bad, but then after what I remember what Mogadore did to Lorien, a banish that thought.

We get to the village after about an hour. We've bee on the run for a decade, and out of all the places, this small village is the most beautiful. It is carved out of the encroaching jungle. It's comprised of huts around a single well and a modest outdoor marketplace. The village is on the road to Nairobi, so its marketplace attracts people from smaller nearby villages, here to trade with each other or sell goods to the tourists that pass by on buses twice a day. There is a small basketball court next to the hut where the vaccine is being delivered. Children sprint across the flattened soil, tossing a ragged, dark-brown basketball at the net-less hoop.

"This is not the place for a Mogadorian strike team," says Adam, staring at the aid-worker's hut. "And yet, here they are."

Over in the hut, we see the Mogadorian who was trying to kill me in London three years ago. It looks like he's alone. If only he knew I had the Legacies I have now. I could break into his mind with my Sensior and drive him crazy by screwing with his emotions. I could lift him out of the air with my telekinesis and he would never know what was happening until I killed him. I could put voices in his head until he goes insane. But I hold back these urges—for now, at least.

Adam does something stupid. He goes to the hut with the vaccine, and stands beside Ivanick, helping him with the kids.

~~~**Adam's Narration**~~~

"Fancy seeing you again, Adamus," snarls Ivan under his breath. "I should have known you would have been here looking for a Garde to help."

"I'm here helping these people with a vaccine from a disease that _we_, the Mogadorians caused," I whisper. "I had no idea the Garde was here."

"No matter," he says. "We'll find him soon enough."

When the children stop by the tent, Ivan and I study them. Most of them arrive barefoot or in sandals, but the ones wearing sneakers or socks are ordered by Ivan to take off their shoes and socks. None of them finds this strange. Humans are too trusting. There are many kids the age of the one I'm looking for, but none of them bears the Loric scar. Every smooth ankle is a relief to me.

One of the kids receiving his injection stares at Ivan then says something in Swahili. The other children line laugh.

"What did he say?" I ask.

The aid-worker with the needle pauses, giving me a nervous look. He is one of three Italian aid-workers in the hut. I don't know whom they think we are, what story they were told to convince them to let Ivan pose as a fellow volunteer, but I can tell they're afraid. They probably think I'm here working with Ivan. I imagine they all have relatives locked in a place like West Virginia—there's a mountain base in West Virginia where intensive training classes take place. The "training, is really endless hours of laboring in underground tunnels—that their complicity is part of some screwed-up deal my people forced on them. I wish I could help them. I wish I could kill Ivan right now, and tell them that all of this would be over soon, but that would be a lie.

Shakily in English, the aid-worker replies, "He says your friend looks like a white hippo."

Ivan takes a step towards the boy, but I stop him by grabbing his arm. He pushes me off of him, but Ivan can tell by the way I look at him that he cannot hurt anyone in this village without me going after him, so he goes back to the vaccinations.

"The boy's right," I tell the aid-worker, "he does look like a hippo, but we're not exactly friends." I flash the boy a thumbs-up, and the children laugh again.

"This is a waste of time," seethes Ivan. "But I'm telling you right now, this isn't over." He stops back in the hut, where the equipment must be stored. I assume he's going to report to my father, who must be in a larger city a few kilometers away: no Loric found yet; located Adamus, whom is hurting my feelings with Kenyan children.

~~~**One's Narration**~~~

"He's betraying us," says Conrad. "He's telling that Mogadorian our information and location. They've probably located Number Three already. Not to mention, these humans' lives would be most improved if the Mogadorians just left this planet the hell alone!"

Adam wouldn't do that. I try to listen in to the conversation that Ivan and Adam are having, but we're too far away. Somehow, I can hear the full conversation loud and clear, as if they were standing right next to me, but are really 100 feet away. Super hearing—new Legacy, perhaps?

"No he's not," I say. "I can hear them."

"Really?" asks Two. "That's awesome! You must have developed a new Legacy to hear really far."

Hilde nods at me.

_This is incredible…_ I think. _First Legacy being 20 years old._

Two must have heard my thoughts, because she smirks at me. Sometimes her Legacies intimidate me more than my own, and I can create goddamn earthquakes! But her Legacies aren't delivering physical blows, but Two can damage people mentally. That kind of shit can give people a reason to fear you. I don't think she heard that thought, because she ignores me and stares off at a boy playing basketball wearing high socks.

_Wait. _I think. _High socks?!_

~~~**Two's Narration**~~~

I drift off a little bit from the group, over to a basketball court. On the basketball court, teams are beginning to form up. A boy about a year younger than me sees as I watch him. He stares at me for a few seconds, almost as if he is observing me, then smiles and waves. When I wave back, he jogs over and says something in what I think is Italian.

"I'm sorry," I say, "I don't understand."

_Damn it…_ I think. _I should have brought that translation band thing from my chest._

"Ah," says the boy, and I see the wheels turning as he tries to place my language. "English? American?"

I nod. The boy is fit, kind of cute, and tall for his age. He is dark skinned; yet one or two shades lighter than many of the other villagers, a smattering of sun-born freckles across his cheeks and nose. He looks somehow exotic. He is wearing a sleeveless shirt and mesh shorts, a pair of worn basketball high-tops and striped high socks. High socks. My stomach drops as I realize who he is: Number Three.

"Sorry," he says in slow but perfect English. "The other aid-workers speak Italian. My English is a little rusty."

"No, it's very good," I say, smiling. "Oh, and I'm not an aid-worker."

He steps forward to shake my hand. "I'm Hannu."

"Maggie."

"Nice name. You want to play?" He gestures over his shoulder at the other kids waiting on the basketball court.

What I want to do is scream at Hannu to run. I glance over my shoulder, trying to see if Adam is still talking with Ivan. I can't make this too obvious, can't make a scene. If Ivan detects anything unusual, he'll radio in to the General—as Adam calls him—right away. Hannu's only advantage right now is that Ivan hasn't seen him, or knows who he is. There's still a chance for him and his Cêpan to slip away and join us undetected. I need to get him away from the aid-worker's hut.

"Sure," I say, although I've never so much as touched a basketball. "I'll play."

~~~**Adam's Narration**~~~

I see Two standing over by the side with a boy in high socks. Under his right sock, I see two small circular indentations. My stomach turns as I realize he is the Garde.

"That kid didn't get vaccinated," says Ivan, who has just now decided to leave the tent. "Wow. You're gross Loriens could have just sniffed out the Garde for us!"

This kid is obviously a Garde. If the socks didn't give away who he was, then the way he easily lazy-arcs the basketball into the basket without brushing the rim could give it away.

"You can't see a kid skilled at basketball and wearing high socks and immediately assume he's a Garde." I protest, even though spending enough time with the Garde, I can see the difference between a human and Loric like the difference between a fox and a wolf.

"I _should_ go out there and choke him right now," says Ivan, and I'm ready to lift him up and throw him into the nearest hut, "but, Father says I have to be strategic."

I still find it retarded how Ivan thinks that he can start calling the General "father," but I barely care. Ivan sneers at me, and I can tell what he's thinking. When we get back into the hut, he grabs the nearest aid-worker by the shirt and pulls him over to the window.

"That kid," he says, pointing at the boy and Maggie. "Where does he live?"

The aid-worker hesitates, but I can see the fear in his eyes. "It's okay, Ivan won't hurt you or that kid," I say to the aid-worker softly as Ivan glares at me. "I'll make sure he doesn't."

"Not sure," the aid-worker says, mainly towards me and not Ivan. "Outside the village, I think. Near the ravine."

"Good enough," says Ivan, shoving the aid-worker away. When he does, I shove Ivan back. "This ends tonight, anyway, Adamus. Be ready, because I'm prepared to ram a piken right up your ass. I'll tell Father you say hi."

"I'm looking forward on seeing him again," I say. "Trust me."

~~~**One's Narration**~~~

We all met up in an abandoned hut after Ivan left. The Mogadorians won't raid the village with so many people here, and not to mention, there are the three kids developing their Legacies. Hannu went home, somewhere next to a ravine.

"Ivan and the Mogadorians are planning something big," says Adam. "Ivan said something about bringing a piken."

"How big did you say they were?" I ask, seeing as Two shudders by the thought.

"The normal size is around 30 feet," answers Adam. "Why?"

"That's easy," I say, trying to build Two's confidence. "Two could kill that thing just by tripping it over a force field."

Two smiles at the idea. She really isn't the kind of person who can't wait to get out into the field and start spilling blood. I think she likes to be strategic about things. But what Two needs to understand is that today, there will be no more hiding, no more disguises, no more planning, no more waiting around, no more secrecy. There will never be a more perfect opportunity to fight back. Hannu will not die tonight.

"Today, we face the Mogadorians and show them what we can do," says Adam, saying some weird rally the troops speech that sort of came out of nowhere. I'm a bit amused. "Today we destroy the idea of the Mogadorian cause, and show them they cannot win, and Lorien will rise from the ashes!"

"Adam," I say. "You know who makes speeches like that?"

"Um, no," he asks. "Who?"

"People who are about to die."

"Oh, uh, good point."

Night has fallen. The jungle around me is alive with strange noises. I should be worried about what kinds of animals are out there, snapping branches as they stalk me, hissing around my ankles. But there are other, more dangerous creatures that will be here tonight—ones that will kill us without any remorse.

We split up and run through the jungle with only a vague idea of where we're going. Adam comes with me. It's so dark out here I'm practically blind. The communicator on Adam's hip buzzes with static. I teleported in and stole it after Ivan left the aid-worker hut. Our plan is simple, the best we can do under these circumstances. Get to Hannu and his Cêpan, tell them we're Garde, use the communicator to monitor the Mogadorians' movements. Hopefully, with Hannu's Legacies and knowledge of the jungle, we'll be able to stay one step ahead of the soon-to-be-arriving strike team. It won't be easy—because of the remote location, Adam's dad has authorized a larger unit than normal, including a piken—but Adam knows how they think, how they attack. We can win this.

All we have to do is get to Hannu first—a task this thick jungle isn't making very easy. When the jungle begins to thin out before me, moonlight shining through the canopy overhead, I know that we're close. There is rushing water in the distance, the river coursing through a nearby ravine.

And then there it is, a few hundred feet away, is a single, solidly build hut. The jungle trees around it have been splayed away from the hut in every direction, as if something is pushing the trees away. In the clearing, there is a flat expanse that's littered with angular mahogany equipment. As my eyes adjust, I realize the objects are some kind of homemade obstacle course, almost like the one I had back in Malaysia, six years ago.

Adam and I approach the hut cautiously. The last thing we need is to spook Hannu and his Cêpan. And if he's anything like Conrad, they might emerge guns blazing. Adam stops, stiffening, the hair on the back of his neck rising. Footsteps are crashing through the jungle, coming for us. I load my hand with energy and turn around.

It's Ivan. He is scraped up for possibly having tripped in the jungle, his face cut from branches slapping against it. Ivan holds a weird totem in his left hand. It looks like a small baton of gold. In his right, he holds a Mogadorian blaster against his shoulder. His face is contorted in a humorless smile.

"Clever Adamus," he sneers, "thought you might get away with this."

Ivan clutches the gold and lifts it to the sky. The gold baton glows red, and blue electricity forms around it. The ball of energy in my hand has dissipated. I try to form it again, but it doesn't work.

"What did you do to me?" I ask.

He smiles as he tauntingly holds the baton in front of him. "I'm a relative of Setrákus Ra," he says, circling in front of us, blocking our view to the hut. "Did you actually believe I couldn't get his blessing of powers?"

Setrákus Ra has powers? Even if we save Hannu, our job to kill Setrákus has just gotten harder, especially if he can take our Legacies away.

"Ivan, get out of here, now!" says Adam. "I don't feel like killing a trueborn."

"Why? Why would you kill your own people instead of this Lorien?" he asks. "I always knew you were weak, Adamus, but not a traitor to—"

"It's Loric," says One, headstrong. "Lorien's the planet, idiot."

"Don't talking to me you scum!" he spats, aiming the gun at her. "I'm not hesitating to shoot you!"

"Really, because most stupid bad guys monologue and miss the chance to kill," says One. I can tell that she is trying to get a rise out of him. "And you're stupid, and it sounds like you're about to monologue, so…"

"You know, it's because of you and your goddamn Number Two that I had to spend three years trying to be a model Mogadorian that _you_ were supposed to be!" says Ivan. "I had my chance to kill one of the Garde, and _you_ took it away! I brought them a girl who happened to look like Number One, and they killed her! Do you have any idea how humiliating that was, now that we found you still alive?"

"I don't know," says One. "Seems kind of humiliating that you're still monologuing."

"Shut the hell up!" yells Ivan. "Now I have my chance, and now, I'm going to kill each and every one of these Loriens. But first, I'll start with killing your bitch Number One!"

That settles it.

Ivan aims the cannon at One, and I bash it against his skull before anything shoots out.

~~~**Hannu's Narration**~~~

The door starts shaking. It's a flimsy thing made of bamboo shoots held together with tattered lengths of twine. The shake is subtle and stops almost immediately. Kentra and I lift our heads to listen. He is 50 years old, which means he was 40 when we arrived. Everyone thinks Kentra is my father, but he isn't. Actually, he was born near a different jungle on a different planet hundreds of lightyears away. We are sitting shirtless on opposite sides of the huts, a mosquito net over each cot. There is a distant crash, like the sound of an animal breaking the branch of a tree, but in this case, it sounds like the entire tree has been broken.

"What was that?" I ask.

I hear the chirp of insects, nothing more. Kentra brings his legs over the side of the cot when the shake starts again. A longer, firmer shake, and another crash, this time closer. He gets to his feet and walks slowly to the door. Silence. Kentra takes a deep breath as he inches his hand to the latch. I sit up, activating my Legacy of X-ray Vision and look through the door.

Far away from the hut are two guys, about 20, fighting near a blond girl. I remember seeing the guys at the aid-worker hut. Closer to the hut is a large, hideous hulking beast, almost like the ones that were on Lorien. But right in front of the door, there is a Mogadorian soldier. It's huge, about seven feet tall, and it holds a sword, ready to kill. I try to warn Kentra, but it is too late.

"No," he whispers, and in that instant the blade of a sword, long and gleaming, made of a shining white metal that is not found on Earth, comes through the door and sinks deeply into Kentra's chest. I see it barely miss his heart with my X-ray Vision as it protrudes six inches through his back, and is quickly pulled free. Kentra looks at me and utters, "Run." He falls to the floor, bleeding out. I would stay and help him, but the beast comes charging toward the house.

I leap from the cot and burst through the rear wall. After I'm out, I see as the beast rams through the hut, smashing it to pieces, standing on all fours. It stands bipedal in my training course and roars. The Mogadorian who tried to kill my Cêpan is sitting on the beast's skull neck, almost like a man riding a horse. They come charging after me. I tear through the Congo night, leap over trees, and sprint at a speed somewhere around 60 miles per hour. My sight and hearing are beyond human. The beasts' heavy stomps are close behind me. The crashing nears, and there is a low, intense roar. Whatever is behind me is picking up speed. There is a break in the jungle up ahead, and instantly I know it's the ravine. It is 300 feet across and 300 feet deep with a river at the bottom. The river's bank is covered in huge boulders—boulders that would break me apart if I fell on them—if anyone fell on them really. It is too far. I've never leapt over anything that far. For any Garde, it's a nearly impossible leap.

I drop to my knees, thinking about the red-haired girl back at the village. I think I am going so crazy that I see her. She is running about the same speed I am, but probably a few miles behind. She catches up to me, and is yelling at me to do something. The girl is wearing a red and silver rubber suit, and it is so skin tight that I can see the indentations in her ankle. She's a Garde.

"You need to run!" she yells. "Get out of here now!"

"Kentra is dead," I say, remembering when the beast smashed through the hut. "What's the point?"

"Your Cêpan isn't dead!" says Maggie. "He's being healed right now. You need to go!"

"What about you?" I ask.

"I'll be alright," she says. "I can make force fields."

Something inside me builds up. I hear the beast coming for me, and can see the whites of its teeth. She probably knows the monster is coming, because a projection of blue energy forms around her in a bubble. It shimmers in a sort of mirror-like sheen. I take five steps back, almost to where if the beast was running any faster, it could trample me. Just before the ledge, I take the leap.

~~~**Adam's Narration**~~~

I had hoped the blow would knock Ivan out. I should have known better. Ivan gets back on his feet before I can create some distance between us. He doesn't register the flow of blood from the gash I've made above his eyebrow. That dead look I have seen in his eyes during a dozen training sessions from 6 years ago comes on, and he barrels towards me. Ivan drives his shoulder into my stomach, but when he lifts, me, I use my Mana to hurl him into a tree. The air explodes out of my lungs in a wet cough. Ivan grabs a handful of my hair and slams my head into the tree. Stars flash across my vision. One yelling to help keeps me conscious.

"Go find the others!" I yell to her.

Desperately, I try punching Ivan, my fist hitting him hard in his groin. He doubles over, retching and drops me. I stumble backward, shaking the cobwebs out of my head, and stumble over a fallen tree trunk. Before Ivan can get on my again, I lift him into the air with my Mana and toss him against the tree. I smash him against it until I see blood flow from the corner of his mouth. Somehow, his back is still okay.

Ivan leaps onto the tree trunk, standing above me. He points over his shoulder, a wild look in his eyes.

"You want to fight me for _them_?" he snarls. "For some Loric shit? You're choosing them over us?"

"Yes." I say without hesitating.

"Then you can die with them!"

Ivan jumps off the log, intending to stomp my face. I roll away at the last moment, kicking him in the side of the knee as he lands. I hear something snap inside Ivan's leg, and he howls with pain. I leap to my feet, center myself, and regain balance. Ivan lunges toward me, limping slightly, but this time I'm ready for him. I deflect his punches with my Mana—all of them are straight ahead, angrily telegraphed to the point where I don't even need to use Mana. It's something I learned from Hilde and One.

Ivan comes at again, frustrated, his blows being more furious than ever. I duck under them and when he's off balance, drive the heel of my hand into his nose. His feet go out from under him. I step down on Ivan's throat, thinking of Two and the way he stepped on her neck minutes before I saved her life. From my peripheral vision, I see Hilde, One, and Conrad healing someone, but I can't tell if it is Hannu or his Cêpan.

"Not so easy when someone hits back, huh?" I say.

Ivan shoves my foot away, but I catch his wrist in both of my hands. He pulls me to the ground and tries to climb on top of me. He punches wildly at me with his free hand, but I'm in control. I whip my legs up and slip one under his chin, the other behind his head, then pull down on his head with both of my hands, choking him.

Somewhere, I hear Two speaking to me.

_Adam, you need to stop this… _I hear her say. _This is your fight, but this is not the time for vengeance. You will get your chance soon enough…_

Once Ivan has lost full consciousness, I let him go and shove his body away, lying on my back. I'm hurting all over from Ivan punching me in the ribs, but I'm alive. Around me, the jungle has grown eerily quiet. I walk over to the hut. The hut looks like someone literally blasted the roof off. The walls are collapsed to the side, and the splinters of wood that are still remaining is covered with a thick black substance—Mogadorian blood. A piken must have crashed through here. The four of them are there, but Hannu and Maggie are nowhere to be seen. One is holding the healing stone to Hannu's Cêpan's chest.

"What's your name?" I ask. At first he doesn't answer, and looks frantically from One to Hilde. "It's okay. I'm with them."

One nods. "My name is Kentra," the man says. "Who are you?"

"Adam."

"You know where Hannu is?" asks Kentra.

"I told you, Two went to go find him." One answers.

"She went alone?" I say. One nods. "That's not going to be enough."

One and I head out to go find them.

~~~**Hannu's Narration**~~~

I'm in the air for a few seconds, but I'm pretty sure just when I get over the center of the ravine, the beast's claws are just inches from my back. I hit the ground and tumble forward, stopping at the base of a huge tree. Maggie smiles at me, still in the bubble. The beast is so concentrated roaring that it doesn't even notice when Maggie pushes it over the side with the momentum of her force field. I can't believe I've made it, that we're going to survive. But sadly, I'll have to get out of here, to make sure they don't see me. It saddens me to say that even though, after 10 years of hiding out here in Africa, having finally met up with another fellow Garde, I'll have to leave.

But when I turn toward the jungle, a huge hand wraps around my throat, and I am lifted off the ground. Even as I struggle and kick and try to pull away, I know it is futile, that it's over, that one of my own kinds will have to watch as the monsters kill me. The Mogadorian lifts me so that it can see my chest, see the amulet that is hanging around my neck, the pendant that only my kind and I can where. The monster tears it off and puts it somewhere inside the long black cloak the beast is wearing, and when its hand emerges, it is holding the gleaming white metal sword.

~~~**Adam's Narration**~~~

One and I get to the ravine just in time. Below, there is a piken that has burst into ash immediately, and I see Two standing there triumphantly. But the problem is that my father holds Hannu over the side of the ravine and has the other, most horrific thing I have seen in his other hand: the sword. Seven years ago, when I was 12, and still living underneath the Mogadorian cause, there was a rumor about Setrákus Ra trying to create a weapon that could break the Loric charm, much stronger than any other weapon ever made. The idea came from a white metallic ore that could only be formed during a supernova. It was said to be able to destroy anything. If that is what they stabbed Kentra with, it is a miracle that Hilde was even able to heal him.

Number Three or not, Hannu might die tonight. One hands me a gun that we got from Kentra and teleports me over to the edge of the ravine. After a strange blur, I am standing on the ridge, just like the day when I first met One. This is possibly the best vantage point I'll ever get, and now it is time to finally stop my father's reign of terror.

~~~**Hannu's Narration**~~~

I stare deep into the Mogadorian's deep, wide, emotionless black eyes and speak.

"The Legacies live. They will find each other, and when they're ready, they're going to destroy you."

The Mogadorian laughs, a nasty, mocking laugh. I stare into its body and see a black heart. It raises the sword and ignites in a silver flame as it points towards the sky as if it's coming alive, sensing its mission and grimacing in anticipation.

_I will make it home…_ I think, even though I can sense the inevitable.

I close my eyes just before the sword strikes. And then, somehow, out of luck, the pain of the blade never comes. Instead, there is gunshot and the strange feeling as if someone is using telekinesis. My eyes snap open, and I am floating above the ravine, moving over to the safer spot with Maggie and a 20-year-old blond woman. When I finally land on the ground, Maggie hugs me, and says something about a prophecy being broken. The Mogadorian on the other side of the ravine screams in rage.

"So what Number are you?" I ask.

"I know this will sound crazy, but I am Number Two," says Maggie, and I back away in shock. "This is Number One. We met in England, so that is why you probably thought the two of us were dead."

I just stand there, confused. "Is that why a few years back that scar formed, and a few years before, the first one did?"

"Yes," says the blond girl who must be Number One. "I know it's confusing. I barely understand it even—"

She stops talking and stares at something in the distance, from where the gunshot came from. It is the two guys from the aid-worker tent. Now I can see clearly that one of them is Mogadorian, but the other one, I am not exactly sure. The Mogadorian holds the other man up by his throat, about the same way that the one on the other side of the ravine did to me.

~~~**Adam's Narration**~~~

I can't believe I let my guard down. Somehow, Ivan has found me. The stupid thing is how I levitated that sword over here instead of shattering it at the bottom of the ravine. Ivan grabs the sword out of my hands and picks me up by the neck, the same way the General held Hannu. My feet dangle over the ravine as Ivan's grip around my throat tightens. I gasp for air, but he won't loosen. I try pushing myself away, try to talk him out of this, but he is too strong.

"You see what happens when you live with these creatures?" he starts. "You start to become inferior." I continue trying to tell him something, but my words are caught in the middle of my throat. "See? You can't even speak!" he continues, smiling, as he raises the sword. "What?" Ivan finally asks.

He finally loosens his grip enough for me to get out what I was trying to say, just as I pull Maggie's revolver from my pocket. "You're not killing any Garde tonight!" I say as the bullet flies through his abdomen. His body goes flat, and he drops his hand.

I catch myself just on the edge of the cliff, my hands struggling to get back over the side. Ivan isn't dead—he would have burst into ash—but his body has shut down, and he falls into the ravine, the sword with him. The sword shatters into pieces, but Ivan floats down the river, a flow of black blood following him. Our blood isn't exactly compatible with water, but before his blood does anything to affect the ecosystem, the river will probably disintegrate the DNA of his blood outside of him. We have won today, and I can already see the three members of the Garde picking off the scouts in the area. One must have convinced Maggie and Hannu not to kill my father. The General won't die tonight, but he will die by my blade, one day.

The seven of us have taken refuge in two small houses just on the border of Tanzania. The three Cêpans stay in one house, while the four of us stay in the other. It has really been a stressful few days. Almost dying isn't the adrenaline rush you would think. Instead, it feels as though you're getting punched in the chest 1,000 times per second. There were only two beds when we found the houses, one in each of the two bedrooms. Of course, One and I slept together, and surprisingly, so did Hannu and Maggie. I think of how this will work out in the end, when the 18 of them have to repopulate Lorien. Not to be gross, but even now, there is still the possibility that over in the other house, Conrad and Kentra are doing a three-way with Hilde, but it weirds me out to think that, so for One's sake, I banish this thought from my mind.

I am the first to wake up, mainly because for the past few days, I have been having nightmares of the end. When I get out of bed, I get a towel from the duffel bag that Hannu had and go to take a shower.

The water is warmer than I expected, considering how this house was pretty much abandoned, I am a bit surprised that the water is even still on. I close my eyes and let all of the mental turmoil flow away. A part of me hopes that Ivan is dead, but somewhere deep inside of me says that I want him to stay alive, at least until the final battle. There is a shift in energy next to me. My eyes snap open, but it is just One.

"Hey," she says, smiling. "Mind if I join?"

"Not at all." I say.

One gets into the shower with me, and the water pours down her skin. Somehow she notices that my face is still amidst. "What are you thinking about?" she asks, looking slightly concerned.

"I'm just worried how all of this will turn out," I say. "I mean I practically killed Ivan three days ago. Maybe I just need time to realize that I'm at war with him physically, not mentally."

One gets on her toes and kisses me, slightly brushing across me. "I understand," she says. "We all need to adjust to living like this. But remember, if you feel like you need to switch back to the Mogadorian's side, I will sit this war out until you decide to come back."

We smile at each other, and then she places her hand on the back of my neck and pulls me to her and all at once we're kissing again. Entangled. Meshed. Our arms tightly around the other. My mind clear of the plague that started haunting me when I saw Ivanick try to kill Maggie. One and I in the shower falling into each other, nothing else in the universe matters.

~~~**Hannu's Narration**~~~

Not to be an ass, but I still don't understand why One and Adamus are so close. It makes little to no sense. I mean sure, he is fighting for us, but what is the big deal with them being a couple? During this war, we won't have time. Even when this war is over, and I send Setrákus Ra's head back to Mogadore, it still won't work out between Adamus and One. He can't repopulate Lorien if he is a Mogadorian. Until this war is over, I'm keeping my nose clean.

I get into the shower when Adamus and One leave, finally. It smells like they had sex in here. I turn the faucet of the shower in different directions, washing the walls. Honestly, I feel as though I have been an asshole to the entire species. I mean Adamus did save my life; I shouldn't be such a dick to him.

I get out of the shower a few minutes after Maggie gets out of hers. I put on a towel and dry off. Maggie is wearing nothing except for her lingerie that she had brought in. I watch as she rings out her hair, her reddish-brown curly hair flowing down to the middle of her back. Maggie is a year older than me, and is honestly the most attractive person I have met while being on Earth, not that I was checking out girls when I was four years old. My eyes can't help but use the X-ray Vision.

Two notices this and smiles. "What are you staring at?" she asks jokingly.

"I, um…" I say, trying to find the right words without saying something like, _I was checking you out with my X-ray Vision_.

"It's okay," she says. "I know you have X-ray Vision."

"How did you…?" I ask, a bit shocked.

"Telepathy," answers Two. "And please stop referencing me as 'Two.' You can just call me Maggie."

"Sorry," I say.

"It's fine," answers Maggie with a smile. "To be honest I was checking you out too."

I just laugh, and she walks out of the bathroom. What I said earlier about waiting until this war was over to start choosing a partner; I think I might have been incorrect.

~~~**One's Narration**~~~

The four of us sit in the living room, eating a strange Egyptian dish that Hannu made for us.

"You know what we need?" asks Maggie. "We need code names, because I'm tired of calling each other by numbers."

"What, like the X-Men?" I ask.

"Sounds cool to me," answers Hannu. "I mean think about it: we're a group of kids with strange abilities that humans wouldn't understand, so why not?"

"Okay," says Adam. "Then I'm first…man."

It takes us a minute to understand what he means, but then Hannu smiles.

"That's cool," he says, while Maggie and I still don't understand. "You know, like Adam, the first man."

"Oh," Maggie and I say together, understanding that Adam and Hannu were referencing the Bible.

"Okay," I say. "Um, the human name I chose was Asia, so my nickname could be Surfer, because I am an awesome surfer."

"Oh really?" says Hannu, interested in the idea. "You know I used to surf on the coast. When we get back there, we'll see how you do."

"Maybe we will." I say. This kid is cool as hell.

"Ooh!" says Maggie, cracking a smile. "I have an easy one: Bookworm."

"Why bookworm?" asks Hannu.

Maggie is still smiling, and she walks over to her duffel bag and empties it in the middle of the floor, revealing dozens of books.

"Holy shit," says Hannu. "That's awesome. I'm pretty sure my code name should be Leaper, you know, because of my Enhancement."

"That's nice," says Maggie. The rest of us nod.

Finally, we have something to do as a group aside from kill Mogs.

~~~**Maggie's Narration**~~~

Kentra and Conrad have helped me set up a secure blog to track to Loric six that remain in hiding. It reads: **Names and places will be changed to protect the Lorien, who remain in hiding. Other civilizations do exist. Some of them seek to destroy you.**

That is the heading, and then: **This is a friend. Are the rest of you out there?**

We keep it sitting open at all times. And then, finally after two weeks, we get a response: **HEAD TO FLORIDA.**

The cryptic way it is written made us take caution, but we have no choice. If there is a Garde out there, we're going to find them, no matter what the cost. We head for the west coast in a few days, and then to the location where many different alien cultures have decided to experiment: the Bermuda Triangle.

**There is your Chapter 8. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but my mom went to Paris for my sister's school trip, and I had to stay with my brother. But it is kind of difficult to concentrate when there is music on full volume on the other side of the wall. Anyway, I am also sorry for making references to movies in this story, such as Star Trek, and that part of X-Men: First Class when the mutants are choosing the code names. But yea, I'm sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks. This chapter took a while to write, and I had to go for a period of time where I could barely stay awake long enough to write, but thank you if you continue to follow, favorite, and review. Bye! And hopefully this chapter was good!**


	9. Who We Are

**So this is just a song for the placeholder of the series. Skip over it if you just want to stay on the story. It is by Imagine Dragons, and I feel like it fits for this story, and for the whole of the Lorien Legacies series in general. Enjoy, and also enjoy the next chapter that will be released a day or two after. Again, ENJOY!**

"**Who We Are" by Imagine Dragons**

_~~~Up in the morning~~~_

_~~~Up in the evening~~~_

_~~~Picking down clocks~~~_

_~~~When the birds come out to eat~~~_

_~~~Oh to eat~~~_

_~~~Up on the mountain~~~_

_~~~Down in the cellar~~~_

_~~~Pushing these blocks~~~_

_~~~In the heat of the afternoon,~~~_

_~~~Oh afternoon~~~_

_~~~We were never welcome here~~~_

_~~~We were never welcome here at all~~~_

_~~~No.~~~_

_~~~It's who we are~~~_

_~~~Doesn't matter if we've gone too far~~~_

_~~~Doesn't matter if it's all okay~~~_

_~~~Doesn't matter if it's night or day~~~_

_~~~So won't you save us~~~_

_~~~What we are~~~_

_~~~Don't look clear~~~_

_~~~Cause it's all uphill from here~~~_

_~~~Oh.~~~_

_~~~Up in the attic~~~_

_~~~Down in the cellar~~~_

_~~~Lost in the static~~~_

_~~~Coming back for more~~~_

_~~~Oh for more~~~_

_~~~Out with the reason~~~_

_~~~In with the season~~~_

_~~~Taking down names~~~_

_~~~In my book of jealousy~~~_

_~~~Jealousy~~~_

_~~~We were never welcome here~~~_

_~~~We were never welcome here at all~~~_

_~~~No.~~~_

_~~~It's who we are~~~_

_~~~Doesn't matter if we've gone too far~~~_

_~~~Doesn't matter if it's all okay~~~_

_~~~Doesn't matter if it's night or day~~~_

_~~~Because it's who we are~~~_

_~~~Doesn't matter if we've gone too far~~~_

_~~~Doesn't matter if it's all okay~~~_

_~~~Doesn't matter if it's night or day~~~_

_~~~So won't you save us~~~_

_~~~What we are~~~_

_~~~Don't look clear~~~_

_~~~Cause it's all uphill from here~~~_

_~~~Oh.~~~_

_~~~They say we're crazy, they say we're crazy, they say we're crazy, they say we're crazy, they say we're crazy, they say we're crazy, they say we're crazy, they say we're crazy~~~_

_~~~It's who we are~~~_

_~~~Doesn't matter if we've gone too far~~~_

_~~~Doesn't matter if it's all okay~~~_

_~~~Doesn't matter if it's night or day~~~_

_~~~Because it's who we are~~~_

_~~~Doesn't matter if we've gone too far~~~_

_~~~Doesn't matter if it's all okay~~~_

_~~~Doesn't matter if it's night or day~~~_

_~~~So won't you save us~~~_

_~~~What we are~~~_

_~~~Don't look clear~~~_

_~~~Cause it's all uphill from here~~~_

_~~~Oh.~~~_

_~~~(They say we're crazy)~~~_

**When I downloaded this song, it just made me think of Lorien Legacies, instead of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Anyway, the next chapter will be of the seven of them on a yacht heading to the Bahamas. They'll encounter some interesting things, but just know that even though they go to the Bermuda Triangle, it won't be something like Sea of Monsters, but it will include different aliens aside from the Mogadorians and Loric. Scary right? Remember most of the stuff that Henri said to Sam during the Halloween fair in paradise? Just think about that, and keep an open mind.**


	10. Chapter 10

**This chapter will probably be the longest I have ever written, considering its content and battles. I hope you enjoy it, and in this chapter I could be including some zoological cryptids and some of your OCs. Enjoy!**

**The Quest of One**

**Chapter 10**

We rented a yacht when we made it to the east coast. The seven of us decided that it would probably be safer to just leave now, instead of trekking all the way back to the west coast. When we got to the beach, Asia and Hannu went surfing, like they said they would. They're both really good at it, not to mention, I got to see a few of Hannu's Legacies. The first is Light Manipulation. Hannu can cause flashes of light and blind any enemy. He can also duplicate himself.

Kentra, Hannu and I do the navigation on the boat, considering the three of us are the only ones who know how to read the stars. Asia tracks ahead, leaving a blue trail of a smoky vapor behind her. We need her to scout so we'll know whether or not another ship is coming, be it a human ship, or a Mogadorian troopship.

"We should have just walked to the west coast," says Hannu. "The water is dangerous."

"How's the water dangerous?" asks Hilde.

"Somali pirates sort of own the southeastern coast," explains Kentra. "With a boat like this, they'll be drawn to it like moths to a flame."

"We won't have to worry about Mogadorians though, because Trunkos use the southern region of the seas," says Hannu, staring at something in the ocean. "They wouldn't risk running into any of those."

"Trunkos?" I ask. "What the hell is a Trunko?"

Adam passes his binoculars over to Conrad. They are still staring at something in the distance. Just then, Asia comes back, landing on the roof. She looks like she has just seen a ghost. I walk over to the window and see what they are staring at.

"That's a Trunko." Hannu says.

I can barely see it at first, but then Conrad hands me the binoculars. There are two or three orcas jumping out of the water. One of the orcas is being lifted out of the water by a lobster-like tail. After the tail, a huge creature that looks like a polar bear with flippers and an elephantine trunk rises from the water, an orca biting the creature's abdomen. The three orcas and the Trunko get closer to the boat that I don't even need the binoculars anymore. The Trunko is larger and stronger than the orcas, but the orcas seem to be more carnivorous, and they outnumber the creature easily. Eventually, the Trunko pushes them away, throws one of them far away from where it is with its tail, and swims away, straight toward the boat! We brace for the impact, but instead of it ramming into the yacht, it jumps out of the water, almost making a full arc, until it dives back into the sea.

I try to detect its mind, but I cannot see its thoughts. I guess I can't see animals. The strange thing is how deep it goes. Usually, you would be able to see a creatures' outline in the water, but the Trunko dives too far. It's most likely we won't be seeing it again.

"That thing hasn't been discovered yet?" asks Asia. "Something like that would be a little hard to miss."

"According to my X-ray vision," begins Hannu, "that animal's GBC isn't from Earth."

"GBC?" I ask.

"Genetic Binary Code," Kentra says. "Just like how the Garde have an LGC: Legacy Genetic Code."

"So where is it from?" I ask. "Lorien or Mogadore, or is it from somewhere else?"

"Nothing like that has ever been discovered on Lorien or on Mogadore," Hilde says. "Not to mention if it was from Lorien, it would have been a Chimæra."

"Maybe one of us should go and look?" I ask. "I mean, if this is a new species of alien, what do you think humans would do with it? I think that we should look for it."

"I should go," says Hannu. "I'm the only one who knows what this thing could be from. Does anyone have any different type of ability that could help down there?"

"I can manipulate sound, so I think I could help you by creating some sort of sound sensitive air bubble and sending it down in different sections." Asia says.

"You can do that?" I ask. "You can make air pockets from sound?"

"If it's in water, yeah," she says. "As long as you make a light plume once you get it. Let's do it."

~~~**Hannu's Narration**~~~

Night has fallen quickly, even though it has only been a few minutes since the Trunko dove down into the sea. I pull on my Garde suit and ready myself for the ocean, with a waterproof camcorder.

"Remember, if you need any help, make three light plumes, and we'll be down as fast as we can," says Maggie. "Good luck."

"Thanks," I say, preparing to dive into the water. "See you guys in a minute."

I take a deep breath and hold it, and then I dive into the lukewarm water. Propelling myself deeper into the sea, I have probably made it over 100 feet underwater. Even in the dark, the ocean is glowing with life. Octopi and squids flitter through the water, squids bigger than anything I have ever seen before. Whales and seals glow with bioluminescent algae covering their flesh. But they are not the creatures I am looking for, so I swim deeper.

A few sharks get too curious, but I push them away by the nose with my telekinesis. Finally I discover the Trunko…or Trunkos. Kentra and I have only seen them from afar, or from when they have been beached, but never with them in the water. It has snowy-white fur, an elephantine trunk much longer than I thought before, a tail like that of a dolphin, but longer, and the fins at the end of the tail seem to be like a grasp. The creature itself is about 50 feet long, and its trunk adds another 5 feet. All over its torso, there are bite marks from the orcas, but no blood flows from it. The creatures make a sound that sounds like it is a cross between an elephant and a whale. The creature is much different than the Mokele-mbembe that we saw in Congo. Unlike Mokele-mbembe—which we realized was actually an evolved sauropod that lived here on Earth without any interference from different worlds—this creature is definitely from another planet. Maybe when we're heading back to Lorien, we can stop by wherever this thing's planet is from and tell them that they have a colony of the Trunkos that they need to pick up.

I have been down here for about an hour, and I am running low on oxygen. I use the air canister that Asia and Maggie have made and suck the air out of it. My eardrums are ringing from the sonic sound that was encircling it, and cause a light plume with my Photokinesis. I swim over to the Trunko when it slows down from swimming around with the other Trunkos swimming in the same area, and pet its fur. Some of the white fur ruffles up and I see that one strand is nearly a foot long. Down here, I stay with them for a few more hours. They do not appear to be that scared of me, and the others swim over, curious, and begin touching my arms with their trunks. When I run out of oxygen, I just take another canister, continuing the light plumes.

Eventually the canisters stop coming, and the Trunkos start swimming away, so I swim back to the surface, only to be greeted by some guy hitting me over the head with a gun.

~~~**Adam's Narration**~~~

A boat heads over toward us. It is a small boat, probably only big enough to hold four people. I remember what Hannu said about the Somali pirates and ask Conrad to let out a warning horn to let them know we see them. The boat slows down, but then, just as the sky started to light up from the horizon, they speed over to the yacht, and start raining fire. Just as they do this, Maggie raises a force field.

"Drop the shield!" says Hilde. "You can't show the humans your Legacies! Not even humans that are attacking us!"

Maggie saddens and drops the force field, and readies her Loric weapon. Her weapon is basically a stick at the moment, but if they attack her, that'll be a different story.

"Adam," says Conrad. "Take the Chests and hide them somewhere below deck."

I do as he asks and hide them underneath the floor. When I come back on deck I ask, "Shouldn't we defend the ship?"

"We can't defend this boat if they find Loric weapons here," explains Kentra.

Just when he says this, the humans in the boats get a ladder out and hook it to the side. The first one climbs up, holding an AK-47. Then the other three come aboard, wielding the same weapons. One of them spots me and breaks the window to the lounge. He jumps in, pointing the gun in my face, saying something in a language that I don't understand. One of them goes searching the ship, while the other watches outside, and another holds a gun on Conrad and Kentra.

"English?" the one pointing a gun at me asks.

"Yeah," I reply, trying to stay calm. "Philadelphia."

"Oh," he says. "Close to the Washington D.C.?"

"Actually yes," I answer. "Lived there since I was, um, 13."

"Shut up." Another one says.

I just stare at him. "Just making conversation."

"What do you men want?" asks Kentra. "We mean you no harm."

"Do not worry," the man holding the gun on me says. "No one will get hurt as long as you get us money."

"Um, okay," says Conrad. "I can get it to you below deck."

"We go there now." The man says.

There is a crunch from outside the lounge. The man who was outside pulls in a figure. It's Hannu, except his head has a bruise.

~~~**Asia's Narration**~~~

No one has come below deck yet. I'm a bit scared for Adam, but he'll be fine. They all will. They wouldn't kill an old lady like Hilde…right?

Maggie clutches to the blade, cringing when she hears a gunshot upstairs. Either she's worried about Conrad, or she's worried about Hannu. Somehow, I can see that all of them are still okay, almost like how Maggie can see people's thoughts. After a few minutes, I hear someone coming down stairs. I pick up an assault rifle and aim it at the staircase, waiting for someone to come. Right when they do, I'll rain hell on them.

"Don't," says Maggie. "Please don't. What if it's Conrad, or Adam?"

I lower the gun, waiting quietly. After a few minutes, I see a foot. I aim the gun, but it is Adam, being held at gunpoint by one of the men. Listening to Maggie's orders, I hunch down, waiting until they come to attack. The lights shut off, and the man starts shouting at Adam, and I hear him click the gun. Just at that moment, I can't take it anymore, and jump upright, turning the gun's flashlight on. The man grabs Adam and points the gun at his head, holding him in front. I aim the gun, shifting it to a different position, at the man's shoulder.

"You wouldn't want to shoot your friend, would you?" the man asks.

I see a slight tick in the man's left ankle. It would be easy to grasp it with telekinesis, which would disorient the man long enough for me to snatch the gun from his hand. He barks something at me, and I lower the gun, throwing it on the floor to him. I pull the trigger with my mind and it tears through his ankle. While he cries out in pain, I snatch the gun out of his hand and collapse it on itself. Adam counterattacks with his Mana and lifts the man against the wall, slamming him down. The man struggles up and runs upstairs.

"Adam, are you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

I nearly kiss him until I remember that Hilde is in the room. The four of us rush upstairs to help Conrad and Kentra. We force them off the ship, and I might have accidentally caused a tsunami to push them away from us.

Maggie lifts me up with her telekinesis and brings me downstairs. She has already brought Hannu down, and has planted me next to my Chest. I open it and toss her the healing stone. I also get out the Sustenance cube. She places it gently against his skull.

"Will he make it?" I ask.

"I'm not sure," she answers. "Usually, I can just hear thoughts flowing through my mind, him especially, but I can't hear anything from him now."

She's panicking, and it nearly makes me nervous that he might not recover. They probably hit him harder than Hilde did to Adam when we first met him. The thought of one of us dying sweeps through my body. If one of us died, that would mean one less Elder to reclaim Lorien, one less warrior to fight to save Earth and everything on it.

~~~**Hannu's Narration**~~~

Once I wake up, Maggie is standing next to me. The people who attacked the boat are gone. As far as I can tell, they haven't taken over the ship.

"You're awake!" says Maggie as she hugs me. "I was so worried!"

"I feel like I just got hit in the head with a chair," I say. "I guess getting smashed in the head with a gun is sort of the same, though."

She smiles and kisses me for about 10 seconds. The sensation is incredible. Somehow it feels different to kiss her than any human I have ever kissed before. It feels more natural, more calming. Everything slows down.

She pulls away eventually. "Sorry," she says with a mischievous smile.

"It's cool," I say, blushing deeply.

"We should, um, probably go back up, to let them know you're okay."

"Yeah," I say. "Of course."

I get up and my thoughts flurry. She can probably see and hear everything I had just thought about her kissing me, but I don't care.

Kentra hugs me, and Adam pats me on the shoulder. "So," I say. "Where are we heading?"

"An island off the coast of the Bahamas," says Hilde. "There was a radiation signature there that was beyond that of Earth. We're not sure if it's Mogadorian or Loric, but we can tell that it is a ship."

"What if it's a ship?" asks Adam. "You know, a Loric ship. Could it be yours, or a different one that crashed here a while ago?"

"We're not sure," Kentra says. "That's why we're heading there."

"Sounds like a plan," I say and then I direct my attention to Kentra. "Do the two of us have new names when we get to America? I mean Kentra and Hannu aren't exactly common names in the United States."

"I've already started printing out IDs," he explains. "How do you like the name Shane?"

"Sounds nice," I say. "Shane Andrews?"

"Sure," he answers.

"I sort of thought you could be called Marcus."

"I sort of felt like a Marcus," answers Kentra.

~~~**Adam's Narration**~~~

We have been at sea for at least a week. Food is easy, for a few of us. I don't know why, I guess it is because I have been hanging out with Hannu too much—or Shane now—but I have become a vegetarian. It just feels right. Shane, Marcus, and I have found an alternative by feeding off of seaweed and aquatic plants. Sometimes, Mogadorians patrol these seas. I have been able to point out a few ships, but none have bothered us. I love hearing about the Loric stories. The planet must have been a paradise. I just wish I could have seen it before my people screwed it over. 10 years ago, I had plans of taking control of Earth. And now, I only wish to save it. They have asked what will happen to Mogadore once the war was over. I know what each of them is thinking. They want to kill every last one of the Mogadorians, and I can't blame them. Sure, it is against all odds: 18 people, nine of them teenagers, taking on an entire planet with dozens of armies armed to the teeth with monsters, weapons, and the skill. But I have no doubt that the Ennead will end the war. Of course, they won't let me go back to Lorien with, no matter how much Asia and I love each other, in the end, I will probably get wiped out with the rest of the Mogadorians.

We've gotten closer to the Bermuda Triangle, and Asia scouts ahead again. The air seems dead in this sort of storm. The air is too dark to see anything, but there must be a few ships flying overhead, or at least they look like ships. For all I know, there is some species of flying creature I don't know about.

"Should we drop an anchor?" I ask.

"We can't," answers Hilde. "We lost it when we were observing the Trunkos."

"Oh," I reply, a bit worried about this. "So, do you think there are other aliens out here besides us?"

"What do you mean?" she asks. "Out in the whole universe, or out here in the Bermuda Triangle?"

"Both, I guess."

"Well, out in space, yeah. The myth about a multiverse is not a myth. In our universe, if you include Mogadore and Earth, there are 17 planets out there that sustain life. Soon, after all of this is over, there'll be the proper amount of 18 planets. But out here, we aren't sure how many of the other planets have found this place, but a lot have visited Earth more than once, be it harvesting water, or just helping the humans improve life. There have been events where there are aliens that were uncharted from this universe: Roswell, New Mexico; some crop circles, we have tried to trace them, but they haven't been discovered. Maybe we'll find them here."

Just as she finishes the sentence, the ship slams into what looks like a rock. The rock moves a bit, and then arcs as it rises out of the water, revealing the large tail of a creature. There is a plume of white light, and I call for Hannu to see if this is his cause.

"That's not me," he answers.

"What the hell is that thing?" asks Asia.

The light moves around a bit, and then a tentacle lifts into the air. I push it down with my Mana. It reacts by raising its tentacle into the air again and slamming it against me. I am knocked into the lukewarm water. The tentacles go away after a few seconds, giving me enough time to levitate myself back onto the ship. Conrad drives us away quickly as more underwater lights flash by. My guess is that we were just attacked by a giant bioluminescent octopus.

Even in the dark I can see Asia's blue trail of smoke and she lands on the roof of the yacht. I'm pretty sure that she saw the round markings on the side of the ship. She leaps down to the floor.

"What'd I miss?" she asks. "It looks like you guys got attacked by a bunch of squids."

"Monster from the Devil's Triangle," says Hannu. "The sooner we get out of this hellhole, the better."

"Well then you can gladly get ready to," she says. "I found the ship."

"Really?" asks Hilde. "Where is it?"

"On an island a little ways off the coast of Nassau," she says. "And get this, it's Loric!"

"Is it the ship that you guys came on?" I ask.

"I doubt it," she answers. "This one has been here much longer than we have, and it crash landed. It was only here for probably a year or two before us, but whomever was at the helm at that thing didn't know what was going on."

"How long will it take for us to get there?" asks Kentra.

"About 30 minutes if we drive fast enough," she says. "Most things on Lorien worked by Herald beacons, right?"

"Right," says Hilde, appearing surprised about how she can remember that.

"I traced its beacon, but it is really weak, so we'll need to be there soon. It's obvious that this person didn't know about the invasion when they left."

The island is uninhabited and is untouched by the coming storm. The jungle covers the island so heavily that even the beach is shaded by tall palm trees. It has an eerie silence to it, even though there are animals every once in a while. Trees are here that are in an assorted region, but they don't look like normal trees. Within them, I see a serpentine creature. It has the head of a normal green tree snake, but has small legs like a gecko. It hisses at me, protruding a cobra-like hood. It jumps to the branch on the other tree. As it does, the creature bulges and molds into something else. Its scales shed away, and its body becomes much more mammalian in nature. Once it lands on the other branch, it is a furry squirrel/dog hybrid.

"Chimæra," says Maggie. "They it must've been on the ship here."

All of a sudden, I start seeing them everywhere. A spider/centipede-like creature nearly five feet long crawls across a tree a few feet away, and a giant wild boar with antlers drinks water from a stream. As it does, its body shrinks down to an orange-furred wolf, and howls in the direction we are supposed to be going.

We head in that direction, and find a ring of trees. They have grown taller than the others, almost like they have grown to an extent by the Loric crystal smoke. The rest of the area has fertile soil and tall grass. Most of these plants don't look like they are from Earth. In the center, there is the ship. It is just a basic starship, only a bit smoother and larger in comparison to a space shuttle. It is broken in half, and there is a makeshift farm and greenhouse over to the side. Honestly the ship is big enough to see from a satellite picture, so I don't know how it could have ever been hidden for a decade.

Maggie and I search the greenhouse while Kentra and Asia look through the spaceship. Hannu, Conrad, and Hilde stay on the yacht to protect it.

The inside of the greenhouse feels different than the outside air. It feels cleaner, and a bit more attached to nature. I guess that this is what it felt like on Lorien. Too bad I'll never get to see that. The greenhouse itself is full of different plants and fruits. In the corner, there is a figure. I see it, and just classify it as a plant, and keep walking. Aside from a Loric Chest sitting next to the plant, there is no evidence anyone was here.

"Maggie," I say. "Whoever was here is long gone. Sure, maybe a Garde _did_ live here, but they died a while ago—"

I am cut off in an instant. The figure, which I thought was a plant, extends an arm and fires something from its watch, stabbing me in the wrist. The figure, which actually comes out of the shadows to appear to be a guy about my age, thrusts his arm back, pulling me forward. I grunt in pain as Maggie pulls out her stick sword and cuts the grappling hook off of my arm. Using his telekinesis, he pushes her to the side and charges toward me with an extreme speed, a Garde suit gleaming through the sunlight. I place my hands in front of me, trying to use the Mana to push him away, but with his telekinesis, he smashes my powerful grip and rams against me with his shoulder, nearly under 200 lbs. smashing me into the glass wall. It must be stronger than glass, because it doesn't break under my weight, or his. He lifts me up again with his telekinesis, and I can see him clearly now. The guy is tanned, with short dark hair. He smashes me against a table and pulls out two axes made from a strange black material, his green eyes staring at me showing one determination: _**Kill.**_

He swings the left axe at me, but I duck under it. Using his own momentum against him, I try to trip his feet out from under him. Bad mistake. The second before I kick his feet, he jumps over me, nearly all the way to the ceiling. The solar heat absorbs into him as an icy blue cone of energy launches from his palm, just like Asia's Legacy.

I roll out of the way just before it hits. When he lands on the ground, his telekinetic grip crunches down on me, and he raises the ax. A stream of water comes from in between him and me. It is Maggie: she has developed a new Legacy.

Asia runs in behind her, holding up her palm that forms a plume of energy. The man backs away, but then he throws the axe at me. I dodge away, but it cuts me on the arm. Asia fires at the man. He takes two of his fingers and catches the cone and forms it into a perfect sphere. He passes it across his stomach, and then shoots it at the roof with the other two fingers.

Asia says something to him in Loric. The two of them have a full conversation in Loric, and the whole time, he pushes down on me with his telekinesis. My Loric is a bit fuzzy, but what I do know is that they are arguing about whether to kill me. Eventually, the man puts his axes back in his waistband and reaches out his hand. He smiles at me, and says something again in Loric. It sounds a bit more foreign than Asia's Loric, so it is harder to understand.

"I'm sorry," I say. "I don't understand."

"He said that he was sorry about attacking you; he thought you were human," says Asia.

"Does he know about the war?" I ask.

"No," says Maggie, her voice slightly excited, probably about the new Legacy. "I'll transfer him the English language through Telepathy. We should let him know about this gently."

"Alright," says Hannu, who has just entered the greenhouse.

"So what's your name anyway?" asks Asia.

"Korrbin," the man says.

"You've been living here for a decade?" I ask. "Why?"

"It's not something I like to think about, but I guess I might as well tell you guys, since you came at a different time," Korrbin begins. "It was when I was 12. I got pissed at my Cêpan and ran away to my dad's port. He was working with the LDC, and I hadn't seen him in a while, so I just went there."

"What's the LDC?" asks Hannu.

"Lorien Defense Council," answers Hilde.

"You didn't know about that?" asks Korrbin.

"We left when we were kids," says Maggie.

"I was the oldest of us, and even I didn't know." Asia says.

"Oh," says Korrbin. "Well anyway, I saw a ship there, and I thought it was cool, so I got into it. I had my backpack with me, and it was full of food that I was dropping off. My Chimæra came with me, of course. They probably didn't want me to be alone; I could talk to them telepathically: my first Legacy. But I accidentally activated the ship, and it launched into the atmosphere. I tried turning it around, but it wouldn't work. The LDC contacted my ship, and I could even get word with my parents. It was the first time since I was an infant that I saw my mother. She was never around since our grandparents raise us, but that's okay. Anyway, I even got to mean the Elder Loridas. That was the most honorable thing that could ever happen to me. He told me that I should get some resources from the Secondary Space Station (SSS.) I did, and then he told me to go to the second closest planet, Earth. It took me nine months to get here, but within my first week in space, I saw a column of light. At first I thought it was a Herald, coming from Lorien, but this beam came down from somewhere, towards Lorien. When I tried to contact them, the HUD kept picking up gaps in the Grid. The Munis were probably working on it, so I took no worry. A few weeks later, I try to contact my family because my birthday was coming up, and I just wanted to say hi. But there was no response, just a weak signal from an old Kabarak site in the outer territories. I was too far away to see what was happening to my planet, and I didn't know what. I try to contact again a week later, still no response, and the signal is gone. I hear something from the SSS, but it was shady, so I ignored it. Almost a year in space, only living off of packets of freeze-dried Karo and melted flurrah. I was going insane. And then I saw the Oort cloud, surrounding the Earth's solar system. When I got through the asteroid belt, I had to use Mars' gravity to slingshot me into Earth's atmosphere, because I lost contact with Lorien and didn't have the proper training. It worked, but I crash-landed here on this island off the coast of the Bahamas. My Chimæra died in the crash, but I can here voices all around, so I don't get that lonely."

"Korrbin," says Asia. "You really haven't left this ship's crash site, have you?"

"Only once a month to go to Nassau to get some supplies," he answers. "Why?"

"The fauna around here," she starts, "it's mostly Chimæra."

"Really?" he says, smiling. "They're still alive?"

"Most of them must be, at least," she says. "Also, there's something about Lorien we need to tell you. Hilde…"

"There are only a few of us; ten Cêpan, nine Garde, one Chimæra," says Hilde. "We left because Lorien was attacked, and obliterated. Our families, your family, eight of the Elders, including Loridas, are dead. I'm sorry."

Korrbin takes a step away from us. His face is red, almost as if he is about to burst out of anger and sadness.

"But we are here to protect Earth from the Mogadorians—the creatures that destroyed our planet. Adam is one of them, and the only one who defected. He's one of us now, and originally, the nine Garde were protected by a charm that Loridas gave them. Asia was Number One. Maggie was Number Two. And Shane was Number Three. We are going to find the others and repopulate Lorien."

Korrbin begins breathing heavily. He grabs his Chest and walks out. "I need a moment," he chokes.

We hear the sound of him shouting something in Loric. It is followed by what sounds like a cross between an elephant and a wolf. Asia and I go out there and see a ring of ungulate canine creatures around him as he speaks to them somehow.

I place my hand on his shoulder, but he barks, "Stay away from me!"

"Korrbin, I'm sorry for—" I try to say, but he is too angry.

"You're people killed an entire species!" he starts. "How could you possibly be sorry?"

"Because I didn't know what they did, okay!?" I say, angrier than before. "Once I found out, I _hated_ being Mogadorian, but I can't just stop that! If you want anyone to blame, blame my father."

He grabs a blue crystal from his Chest and walks toward me. "Actually, there is a way to stop it."

"What are you doing?" I ask.

He places it against my stomach with his telekinesis. There is cold emitting from the crystal, but nothing more. I look around, trying to see if anything is happening, but no.

Korrbin pulls the crystal back, and says something in Loric, something like he expected me to die from it.

"If I had known that they had attacked I would have—"

"What?" asks Asia. "You'd go back and fight? Everyone is dead. You're lucky to have gotten out."

"I get what you mean, but still, I need to end them," he says. "Where's their nearest base?"

"We're not packing everything up to kill a few Mogadorians," she says.

"We?" he asks. "Not we. If you really are as important as you say you are, I can't let you or the other Garde risk your lives. I on the other hand am going to go save the Loric and Human race."

~~~**Asia's Narration**~~~

He takes a few of his Chimæra with him and one of them transforms into what looks like a conger eel/dog hybrid big enough to ride on.

"Wait!" I say. "I know that you want to fight back and you don't want to put us in harm's way, but you can't just go and take on an entire army of these things on your own!"

"Not to mention, the nearest one on the Eastern seaboard would be the West Virginia base," says Adam. "Unless you and your Chimæra have a death wish, I wouldn't go there alone. They have a gas that kills animals at the front gate. They'll die before the first Mog falls."

He calls the Chimæras back into the crash site. A bolt of lightning pierces the sky, and Korrbin shudders immediately. "Maybe you're right."

We return to the crash site, and Korrbin has calmed down. The storm feels unnatural, almost forced, like when we came to Earth under the creation of a storm. Inside the ship, it feels like a piece of home. The ship is a bit smaller than the one we used to come to Earth, but it still feels nice. The karo fruit tastes familiar, and I remember having it on the trip to Earth.

Korrbin is in the corner, clutching his Chest close to his side, and looking through the window.

I still don't understand why he is so afraid of the storms, but I hold myself from asking. The safety of the spaceship protects us, and Conrad is continuously trying to jumpstart the launch sequence. This ship has taken too much external damage, and will probably never fly again, but we'll need the crystals to restart it.

An explosion happens outside, and then there is the sound of a ship whizzing by.

"Shit," says Kentra. "The Mogadorians are here."

I expect Korrbin to get angry, but instead, he gets the axes out of his Chest and smiles. "I knew that weak beacon would attract attention once it went out," he starts. "Good thing you guys came when you did, otherwise I think I would be watching the island burn around me."

We grab our weapons and run outside. We all look up just as the silver Mog ship throws on its floodlights, momentarily blinding us. Korrbin, shielding his eyes, turns to look at me.

"Is that one of their ships?" he asks.

"I think so," I say. "It looks like the ones from the invasion."

"Good," he replies. "Then I'll know where to attack."

~~~**Maggie's Narration**~~~

As the others attack the ship, I make long streams of water that wrap around the exterior. The windows are easily exposed, so I smash the water into them, hoping to flood everything inside. They try to get away, zipping down on ropes from the belly of the ship; I continue pumping water into the ship. But with the size of the ship, and the amount of Mogs that are dropping down, we'll be outnumbered here pretty soon.

Once I get enough water in the ship to weight down, Korrbin throws me a blue crystal.

"What does it do?" I ask.

"Freezes anything except flesh," he says. "Touch it to the water!"

I do as he says, and the stream of water freezes, icing its way up to the ship. There is an explosion inside the ship as it is blasted away, landing in the sea, and then three others fly out of the clouds to attack. A few of the Mogadorians fire in my direction, but I deflect their attacks right back at them with telekinesis. Three ships are too much, even with our Legacies. Three Mogadorians in gold and black armor come charging at me. The other two I kill with my water Legacy, but I decide to fight the third, and largest, head on.

He attacks with more brute force than I expected, hitting violently. I pull out the stick and hit him in the face.

"Is that all you've got?" it asks.

"No," I say, holding the stick in front of me. "I've got this."

The Mogadorian laughs one of its gross mocking laughs. "Bullshit."

In that instant, I expand the stick into a blade, and slash at the Mogadorian, cutting through its armor, straight into its heart. "No shit." I say, just before it bursts into ash.

Korrbin uses his watch that he had on and launches a grappling hook into the air, towards one of the ships. He takes out a red crystal, identical to the blue one he gave me, and his watch starts reeling him in towards the ship. Once he lands on its metal surface, he jumps to a position where he can stand upright, and then places the crystal on the ship. Korrbin jumps off and lands a few feet away from a pack of krauls as the ship liquidizes and melts down, explosions piercing through the liquid metal. Conrad puts the guns on the ground and gets out a bucket of red liquid that resembles chlorine in smell.

"Take these guns and start dipping them in this Loricyde!" he says. "The bullets can't go through their armor without it, just don't accidentally get this stuff in your mouth."

I smile and start dipping the top of the guns in the Loricyde, firing at any Mog that gets too close. While this is happening, I watch as Hannu creates multiple plumes of light around another ship, blinding whoever is at the helm. Eventually, it falls out of the sky. The last ship is a little bit difficult. It is larger than the other three, and also has more weapons. When I start firing at it, the bullets go through, but can barely do any damage.

Asia begins firing at it and I start drenching it in water again. Almost immediately after I do, a dark shape detaches from the stormy sky and zooms towards the ground. It leaves a gap and lands on the beach.

~~~**Hannu's Narration**~~~

I leap over the trees and check out what was in the air. It was probably just another ship, or maybe some weird Bermuda Triangle creature that's undiscovered. There is a deep trench in the sand, and the storm goes away almost instantly when I see it. At the end of the trench is a boy.

He's about my age, probably a little bit older, but is shorter and stockier. He's a bit chubby, built like a barrel. His hair is brown and short, a military buzz-cut style. He's wearing a shirt that says _'Martinique'_ on it and a pair of baggy jeans. His right leg is exposed, and I can see the three scars that represent the three of us, that make them think we are dead. Around his neck is the blue Loralite amulet that says he is one of us.

I feel something heavy around my pendant, and I suddenly feel empty inside. The boy wakes up and sees me staring at him. He reaches into his pockets and pulls out two objects: a metal ball and a rubber ball.

"What number are you?" I ask, even though on the inside I am screaming, _Please be Number Four_.

"I'm Number Five," he says. "What number are _you_?"

Everything around me seems to shatter. Him being here, us being together, that breaks the charm for the other five. All of us are fair game now. They can kill us at will.

"Dammit!" I say. "Do you realize what you've done? You have just broken the charm! The Mogadorians can kill us any time they want now!"

"WHAT NUMBER ARE YOU?" he asks again.

"Number Three," I say, before I turn to walk into the forest. As I walk into the forest, I dismiss the fact that I am Number Three, and no matter how many human names that we have, we are still just the numbers that Elder Loridas gave us when we left.

Five follows behind me, asking a dozen questions that I tune out.

~~~**Adam's Narration**~~~

The last Mogadorian ship is gone. Just after that strange figure landed on the beach, the storm ended and it just zoomed away. Hannu returns after a few minutes with a short chubby kid about 15 years old. He is obviously Loric, with his pendant and scars.

"What number is he?" asks Kentra.

Hannu appears angry for the first time. I've never seen him angry, not even in battle. He is usually just a calm guy, but now he looks like he wants to tear open a tree.

"He's Number Five," he starts. "The charm is broken. They can kill us whenever they want."

Maggie and Asia look shell-shocked. "This is bad, correct?" asks Korrbin.

"What happened to the storm?" asks Conrad, trying to change the subject. "And where did the ships go?"

"I'm not sure," says Hannu. "The battle ended when Five got here."

**And that ends Chapter 10, or Chapter 9, depending on how you look at it. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I've just had a lot on my plate. To Jeowolf: I hope you like how I incorporated Korrbin into the story, but I know that you said his Chimæra died in the crash, but that was just sad, because we're running out of Chimæra. Sorry if this upsets you in any way. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I will be posting another one in about a week. And happy 4****th**** of July everybody!**


	11. Chapter 11

**So here's Chapter 11 (or there might be a Number Eleven…ideas, anyone?) and I might include another OC that one of you has posted. I hope all of you have enjoyed your 4****th**** of July, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**The Quest of One**

**Chapter 11**

So far, there haven't been any new scars. I guess that means that the other Garde are fighting back. Korrbin has been a great help, although I still don't think that he is okay about what the Mogadorians did to Lorien, and I think he is expressing that anger toward me. I hope at the end of this that we can be friends; he seems like a nice guy. Oh, and then there's Number Five. He's interesting. Not in a bad way, but I really don't know what to make of him, and I doubt anyone else does either. Unlike the other Garde when they first met me, he didn't try to attack, and instead thought I was just another Loric. Even when they told him that I was Mogadorian, Five stayed neutral, as if he doesn't care about what my people did to Lorien.

The way that Five talks about what happened to his Cêpan, Albert—or Rey; sometimes he slips the name Rey when he talks about his Cêpan—makes me think that either he is lying about his Cêpan's death, or that he just doesn't care. But I never mention this to anyone, not even One. I know that he is a good person and he means well, but I want to ask, "Where did you come from?" Because everyone else was in a jungle, or their Cêpan was fighting for their lives, and Five just flies in from some amusement park on an island.

"So where did you say you left your Chest?" I ask Five during lunch. He is playing a game on his phone, and is barely listening to a word I'm saying. "Five?"

"What?" he asks, pausing the game. "Oh, my Chest? I left it in a swamp in Florida."

"Oh," I reply, and then I direct my attention to the device. "You know you shouldn't have that. It's traceable."

His face drops into a frown. "It's not drawing anyone here," he says. "It's completely harmless."

"Speaking of not drawing anyone here," I begin, "how did you find this place?"

"I…um…I was asleep behind a coffee shop in Florida, and I had this vision of an island in the Bahamas," says Five. "All of a sudden I grabbed my bag and started flying through the air, and I ended up here."

Somehow, I can tell he is lying. Somehow, he knew that we were here. And somehow, the Mogadorians knew he was coming, and left before Number Five came here. For all we know, this could be Setrákus Ra. Setrákus is the only one who has familiar scars as the Ennead.

"What?" asks Five, seeing my face. "That's what happened! Don't you trust me?"

I stare at him and say, "Yeah, Five, I believe you." Even though I sound truthful, every bone in my body is screaming that I don't trust him.

All of a sudden, there is a humming sound, which sounds like a ship. It's not Mogadorian, but something else.

"Adam!" yells One. "Come quick!"

~~~**One's Narration**~~~

A ship shaped like a teardrop comes into view, and I can immediately remember a vehicle like this from Lorien. It's called the Egg. I can't wipe the grin off my face as the Egg orbits the island, and touchdowns in the middle of camp.

The door opens, and I expect to see another one of us walking out with his or her Cêpan. Instead, as a platform expands in front of the door, a skinny, pale 18-year-old boy with brown hair and pale eyes, to the point he looks blind, rolls out of the Egg in a wheelchair. He's all skin and bones (no, literally, he is skinny enough to see his bones.) On his wrist is a long ID band that expands to his forearm in a holographic form. When he gets off the Egg, he presses a button on the ID band, and the door and platform sink into the ship.

"It's 'BishopWhite,' isn't it?" Two asks the boy.

"HGWARD?" the boy replies in English, but it is in a British accent—he must've been living in London by the time we left—his pale white eyes wide in amazement.

"Wait," I say. "You know this guy?"

"Through the secure blog, yes," she answers. "We have a lot to talk about."

"Honestly, I didn't even know if you existed, let alone what you looked like," says Nacht, his Loric name, apparently. "I expected to run into a Mogadorian trap, but I never expected to find nine Loric on the run. So are the Elders here?"

We don't answer, but I find it confusing why he says "Elders," unless he left Earth around the same time Korrbin did, but then again, that would mean he wouldn't know about the war, and Nacht said "Mogadorian."

"Are you leading the resistance against the occupation on Lorien?" he asks.

"Nacht, you don't understand," says Two. "When you left Lorien, the Mogadorians attacked us a few years later. We are six of the 20 that got away, but Lorien was destroyed. Everything living on it died within a week when they somehow destroyed the entire ecosystem. I'm very sorry."

I expect for him to be saddened, devastated even. But instead, he just frowns, and says, "I'm sorry for your losses, I just wish I could have at least visited before the world was destroyed."

"Wait," asks Hilde. "You're an Unknown?"

He nods. "My parents and grandparents were too, in the London unit," says Nacht. "But I knew who I was, and a few humans knew who we were, too. When I was 10, the Elders were my superheroes, and the books about them were my friends. A year after that, I kept asking my parents if we could ever visit Lorien. They didn't even want to leave London, let alone leave the planet. So any time I heard about something on the news about a possible spaceship or alien activity, I would make my own theories. Any theory I read online I was superstitious about, even some of my own. I got labeled by some of the humans who didn't know I was from another planet. It wasn't that bad. The books were my friends. But then one night, when I was 15, my family was taking a walk. While we were out, there was a tall figure in a trench coat and hat. I could barely see his face, and then he started shooting down my family. I ducked down, and took out an expandable shield that I found in my grandfather's office. I put it in front of me and tried to bash him, but I could only knock off his hat. From somewhere, he saw an object that was close to me, and shot at it. I put the shield in front of me, and the bullet ricocheted across the alleyway, hitting me just above my hipbone. I screamed in pain and fear, and just before I went unconscious, I saw on top of his scalp a tattoo that I read about, a ceremonial Mogadorian tattoo, just before it flashed a blinding light in my eyes. I woke up in a room full of human doctors—one of the humans who knew I was Loric called the hospital. I was paralyzed from the waist down and my vision was a little off, but that wasn't what bothered me. If Mogs were here, attacking Loric, then they did something to Lorien—something bad. I made a website that I asked for some humans from America to manage, where all facts on any alien activity be reported to me, but I didn't tell them about the Mogadorians yet—I didn't trust them. A few months ago, I realized that there was a beacon off in the United States, somewhere near Ohio, probably Columbus. It wasn't Loric, and it sure as hell wasn't bloody human technology. I took the Egg there, and found a troop of Mogadorians. They looked different than the one in London. They were taller, faster, and more agile than normal. One of them ran at the same speed I was shooting. Not to mention, they had these eyes that created a horrifying image. I gouged out that Mogadorians eyes before the visions became unbearable and captured it. I called the people in America and told them everything the Mog said as I tortured it. The creature didn't tell me exactly what happened to Lorien 10 yeas ago, only that it wasn't good anymore, and they were preparing to use Earth's resources. He said something about numbers, about how they were going to kill them, but it wasn't straightforward, and I took the numbers as deaths, as the amount of humans they have killed. It was 1-3, something about the number 4 that was hard to understand. Whatever it was about 4, it was something very important. The 7th human they were going to kill was somewhere in Europe, so I guessed the first thing of Loric importance that came to mind: Spain. And there was also something about a 9th. It was either the number 9 or 11. I couldn't tell because I had cut out his tongue. This was one of the Mogadorians who did something to my great grandparents' home. After I was finished, I stabbed the Mog in the chest and it died. That was about a month ago, and now here I am."

"We are the numbers that he was talking about," Two begins. "I am Number Two, and Number Five came here about a day ago."

"I am Number One," I say, and then I gesture to Three. "And he's Number Three."

"Hi," says Three, waving.

"Hello," says Nacht. "Wait, I just remembered something. Have you seen one of their ships, and if so, do you have one?"

"We were fighting four of their troopships yesterday," says Conrad. "Why?"

"Because I think we can get more information by studying the missions on their ships," he replies. "Say, we head out midday tomorrow?"

"And while we're at it," starts Five, "could we go to Florida and get my Chest?"

"Five, you do realize that Florida is a few hundred miles away, right?" I ask. "We'd be away from this island for days just to find your Chest."

"Well, then can't we split up into two groups?" he asks politely. "The five of us can go, and Korrbin, Nacht, Hilde, Conrad, and Kentra could go and see the spaceships."

"But we'd have to leave right now," says Adam. "I mean, if you guys are okay with it, I am, but it would still take about a full day."

"We have our Chests," I say. "I think that it would be safe to go and find Five's."

Two and Three don't look too enthusiastic about going to get Five's Chest. In fact, they haven't been that enthusiastic about Five ever since he flew in. I found it cool that there was another Garde with the Legacy of Sonic Flight, but I think they were upset that the charm was broken. So far, we have been connected because we were the only three Garde whose Loridas charm was broken, but now that Five has ruined the chain, it seems that they are not as accepting. To Nacht and Korrbin, sure, but not to Five.

"I guess that we could take the Egg," says Three. "How fast does it go?"

"With five people, it would go at around 200 miles per hour," replies Nacht. "But again, you'd need to leave in the next hour or so."

"So then, after we go, _if_ we go, what do we do after that?" asks Two. "Now that the charm is broken for everyone, we need to find the others."

"Then I suppose that this is the time for us to unite." I say with a smile.

We made it to Florida about two hours, a shorter time than we expected. Five wanted Korrbin to come along, but Korrbin wanted to protect our Cêpans when they went to the ship.

"Hang on!" says Three as he steers our fan boat around what appears to be a log.

"You see that?" asks Adam. I look over the side to see the log that Three has driven around. It has rough scales and a tail, and I can immediately tell it's an alligator. I watch as it disappears into the trees to our left.

I can see why Five thought the Everglades would be a safe place to hide his Inheritance: it's a maze of tall grasses and muddy water, deserted except for the bugs and the lurking animals.

We're travelling down what is basically a road in the water, a place where the dense saw grass and trees that sprout up on either side of us part to allow boat traffic—not that there's anyone else out here. Two is comparing the map of the Everglades that we printed off the Internet, the one Five marked with the location of his Chest. We got another map from a local man. She keeps switching between our map and the smudged but more detailed map of local tributaries and backwaters. She holds the papers away from her, annoyed. "Neither of these make any sense," she says.

"Don't worry," Three replies, steering us forward, towards the sunset. "Five said that he knows where we're going. Let him be useful."

"For a change…" murmurs Two.

I glance at the sky, looking for Five. He flew off nearly 20 minutes ago, claiming he could better find his Chest from above. The edge of the sky is starting to turn a shade of pink. It looks beautiful, but that isn't what is making me excited. It is the fact that in under a week, we'll go and find the other numbers.

A shadow passes overhead. Five. He hovers over the boat for a moment before gently dropping down beside us. He's dripping sweat, his T-shirt soaked through.

"Did you find your Chest?" asks Three, bored.

Five nods, pointing in the direction we're already going. "There's a patch of solid dirt about a mile farther. It's there."

Three sighs. "Why didn't you just grab the Chest and fly it back here, man?" he asks. "Wouldn't that have been easier for all of us?"

Five smirks at Three. "Didn't you listen to the plan? We voted that you should handle all of the manual labor and grunt work."

"Pardon me?" asks Three, who looks a bit offended, and looks over at Adam. "Is this guy serious?"

Adam shrugs, and then gives Five a strange look.

"Just ignore him," says Two, making an exasperated noise.

Three stares at Five for a second, and then goes back to driving the boat.

"_One Chest_, coming right up," Three says.

Two turns her gaze to Five. She has been more quiet than usual. "Why didn't you get the Chest?" she asks sharply.

Five shrugs. "It's getting dark and it's a good place to rest, if we need to."

"Camping, anyone?" asks Three, as he accelerates the boat.

I guess where Five leads us could charitably be described as an island. Really, it's just a pile of mud in the middle of the swamp; the support system for one massive and gnarled tree that looks like it has been growing since the dawn of time. The tree's roots are so huge and outstretched that Three has to drive the boat up cautiously, not wanting to get stuck on any of them. We climb out of the boat, our feet squishing through mud and slipping across uneven protrusions of the tree. There's a ring of tall grass growing from the water around us and the tree's branches are so numerous and thick that the entire little island is thrown into a shadow almost as soon as you step onto it. It's actually almost ten degrees cooler here than it was on the water.

"This is actually a pretty good spot," I tell Five.

Five's chest puffs out a little at the rare compliment. "Thanks. I camped here one night. This old tree is amazing. Figured I wouldn't have any problems finding it again."

"Congratulations," grumbles Three, swatting at a bug on his neck. "So where's the Chest?"

Five leads us right to the base of the tree. Under our feet is a complicated lattice of roots; it's like the tree is a fist plunged into the earth and the roots are its fingers, mud squeezing out from in between the tree's tight grasp. Five kneels down under a knot of roots, a place where they've bunched up a bit, almost like a knuckle. He reaches underneath the roots where a soft pocket of mud waits.

"It's under here," Five says, feeling around. "Almost got it."

The mud makes a wet sucking noise when Five pulls the Chest free, as if it's reluctant to give up the prize. Five kneels in front of it, wiping muck off the familiar wooden surface. I expect him to open it, but he just wipes the mud off. Adam taps my shoulder and points to a place where the tall grass is parting. I can see the flat head and yellow eyes of an alligator.

"Was that one following us?" I ask, kidding around, but a little creeped out. I inch closer to Adam.

"Lots of gators down here," says Five absently hefting his Chest up.

Three focuses on the gator, probably using his X-ray vision to see how big it is, but when he probably gets his answer, his face changes. "What the hell?"

A second alligator's head appears next to it, and then a third. "Alligators don't hunt in packs," says Two.

"That's not an alligator," says Three.

The three heads suddenly rise out of the water as one, a thick scale-covered neck connecting them all to a single body. The scales disappear beneath a soaked coat of oily black fur on the beast's torso, droplets of water violently shaking loose as it stretches a giant pair of leathery bat wings. It ends up standing almost 10 feet tall on a pair of eerily humanoid legs. It hunches forward, six pairs of jaundiced eyes staring at us.

"Look out!" shouts Two, just as the creature flaps its wings and takes to the air.

It looms in the air over me. The monster's feet are huge, curled talons extending from each foot's three toes as well as from the heels. But the pads on the monster's feet look soft, a pair of S-shaped scars carved into the tissue.

I see all that in the moment before it tries to stomp down on me.

"Watch out!" Adam grabs me with his Mana and pulls me backwards. The mutant's clawed toes shear a chunk out of the root that I was standing on. "What the hell is this thing?"

"Wait, you're not sure?" I ask. "Isn't it Mogadorian?"

"No," shouts Three, over the beast's roars. "It isn't Mogadorian, but it has some of the Mog DNA, and some bat, spider, and alligator. It definitely isn't a Chimæra. Honestly, I've never seen anything like this before. It didn't originate on any planet, and it doesn't have a species."

"Are there more of it?" asks Two.

"Let's ask this thing!" Three says as he charges, his body armor from his Inheritance. The monster snaps at him with one of its three mouths. Three brings his just up and jams it into the closest mouth, knocking out a couple of yellow fangs. With one head roaring in pain, the monster lashes out a wing, forcing Three backwards.

Five drops his Chest on the ground, but still doesn't open it. Instead, he pulls the duffel bag from his shoulder and searches through it. Two grabs his shoulder. "What the hell?" she yells. "Didn't you see that thing when you hid your Chest, or today, when you were scouting?"

"It came from underwater. How could I see it?" Five's voice is calm; he doesn't seem rattled at all, unlike how Three described him when he found him. "Don't worry," he continues. "I've got just the thing in my bag."

"A little help?!" Three shouts as he jumps away from one of the monster's snapping mouths.

I teleport right above its head, and kick it hard in one of its snouts. It begins to growl, so I teleport next to Three. The beast lets loose a roar, flapping its wings and trying to take to the air. Three and I separate, flanking the beast.

As Five searches through his bag—he still hasn't opened his Chest yet, which I find weird—Two focuses on the nearby water. "One, watch my back."

Five pulls out some kind of bracer out of his bag. He slides it over his forearm. When he flexes, a sleek one-foot blade extends from the underside of his wrist. Five grins. "Finally a reason to use you," he says to the weapon, the blade sliding back down when he flexes again. "Let's see if those _Assassin's Creed_ video games paid off."

"Let's hurry up on the water, Two!" yells Three. The creature is bearing down on him. It takes everything he can do to get back up—the body armor is too heavy, deflecting a series of attacks from the trio of fanged mouths. Backpedalling blind, Three trips over a branch and goes toppling down. The beast is about the leap right on top of him when a large half wild boar half porcupine comes running ahead. It bites the mutant by its alligator tail and yanks it backwards, keeping it from devouring Three. I realize that it is one of the Chimæra that was in the jungle when Two says, "Yeah, thanks Korrbin."

After it weakens the mutant enough, the Chimæra shapeshifts into what looks like a giant duck/tortoise hybrid and flies away, flapping its wings at us before it heads east of where the sun is setting.

The alligator monster quickly regains its strength and swings one of its leathery wings at Three, knocking him backwards. As soon as Three is out of the way, Two unleashes a few more jets of water. I shoot a ball of Mæsor into its wing, tearing a whole in the wing's membrane, but it struggles back to its feet and lets out a low roar. I can see the heat of its breath rippling in the air.

"I think I just pissed it off even more," I say.

"How do we kill this thing?" asks Two.

A high-pitched whistle pierces the air, so loud and sharp that it causes my skin to crawl, like fingernails on a chalkboard. The five of us spin around—yes, even including the giant alligator mutant—to see Five blowing into an intricate flute carved from solid obsidian. As the shrill note fills the air, he stares unblinkingly at the monster.

All at once, it's like the fight goes out of the thing. It folds its huge wings around its body and sinks to the ground, its three heads tucked against its chest, almost like it's bowing.

"Whoa," breathes Adam.

"See?" says Five, lowering the whistle and glancing around. "Easy."

"If you had that thing the entire time, and it wasn't even in your Chest, why didn't you use it?" Three snaps.

"I thought you might want a workout," Five says, smiling coldly at Three.

Two shakes her head. "Would one of you just kill that thing so we can get out of here?"

"Gladly," says Five, his skin turning to glittery steel as he clutches a metal ball bearing in his hand. That must be one of his Legacies—to take on the qualities of whatever he touches. He takes a few steps towards the genuflecting beast, but stops right next to Two. "I made the damn thing," Five says, absently. "The least I can do is put it down."

"YOU WHAT?" I ask in disbelief.

"Five's steel-plated fist shoots forward with incredible force, hitting Two with an uppercut.

The force sends Two's entire body through the air and she lands at my feet. Her eyes are closed and her nose is bleeding. I rush towards her with the healing stone, but when I crouch down, something hits me in the chest and I can't move. I can immediately sense it as telekinesis. Five is gently keeping me at bay. I look up at him, the ground beneath our feet rumbling from my anger and confusion fueling my Legacy.

Adam breaks the stunned moment silence, yelling, "Why the hell did you do that?!"

The left half of Five's body has taken on the quality of rubber and his arm stretches like a tentacle, wrapping twice around Three's throat. Three struggles, but Five lifts him off his feet with ease. His arm stretches further, hanging Three 10 feet off the ground, and then plunges downward. He dunks Three in the water and holds him there, drowning him. Both Adam and I freeze as Five turns to look at us. His expression is disconcertingly friendly considering his stretched-out appendage is currently holding Three underwater and Two is lying unconscious a few feet away. I can see vibrations spread up Five's arm from where Three must be punching at it, trying to free himself. The blows must not be giving Five any pain because he hardly seems to notice.

He sits down on his Chest and looks at us.

"The three of us should probably talk," Five says calmly.

~~~**Adam's Narration**~~~

Bubbles break the surface of the swamp where Three is still underwater. He's been down there for a full minute, releasing plumes of light in panic. I want to take a step towards the edge, want to dive in and save Three, but not sure if Five will let me. He watches us closely, an eyebrow raised, like he's wondering how One and I will react.

"I knew you were lying!" I say, my voice low. "Where is the real Number Five? What did you do to him?"

Five's brow furrows in confusion, then he smiles. "Oh, you think I'm Setrákus Ra," Five says, shaking his head. "It's cool. I'm the real deal. No shape-shifting tricks."

"Then open the damn Chest!" I reply.

He sighs. "I really wish I could," he starts. "But I can't do that without my Keeper."

"You said that he died!" says One. "You said that he died the first year we were on Earth!"

"I'll explain that soon," he says.

"Let Three out of the water, Five," I say, trying to keep my voice level, as far from anger as possible.

"In a second," he replies. "I want to talk to you two without Two and Three around to interrupt.

"Why—why would you attack us?" One asks, sounding angrier than ever. "We're your friends."

Five rolls his eyes. "You're my _species_," he replies. "That doesn't make us friends. Not to mention, Adam's not even our species. You think that because humans are the same species, all of them are friends?"

"Goddamn it, just let Three out of the water and we'll talk!" I shout.

Five sighs and lifts Three up. He's gasping for air, his eyes glowing with anger still trapped in Five's strangling grip. Try as he might, even shooting bright lights toward Five's face, he can't get loose.

"Okay, deep breath, man." Five says.

He dunks Three back underwater. During this, two isn't moving. Her head is cocked at an uncomfortable angle, and a bruise is forming along her temple. Her breath is shallow. One starts towards her, healing stone in hand, but Five pushes her back with telekinesis again, like there's a wall that he has placed in front of us.

"Why the hell are you doing this!" she shouts, tears filling her eyes.

He looks taken aback when she yells. "Isn't it obvious?" he asks. "Because you were welcoming to me. Because unlike Two and Three, I don't think that you were brainwashed by your Cêpan into thinking resistance is the only way forward."

"Brainwashed?" she asked. "Did you say we're brainwashed?"

"It's okay," Five says, trying to placate us. "The Beloved Leader is forgiving. He'll welcome you. Adamus, he'll forgive your crimes against them, your betrayal. There is still time to join the winning team."

The winning team? Forgiving my crimes? I can't believe what I'm hearing. My stomach turns over. Before I can get the words out, One beats me to it.

"You're working with _them_?"

"I'm sorry I lied to you about that, but it was necessary. I'd been on this planet for six months when I had my first encounter with them," says Five, sounding wistful. "A few years later, a little over a year ago, my Cêpan was sick because of a vile human disease—that part was true, but he didn't die, and it didn't happen when I said. I watched the three of you die when I got my scars, I knew how you died. The Mogadorians are working on a cure as we speak. I convinced them that if they helped him, I would get him to join their cause. Before that happened, the Mogadorians took me in, revealed that they had Rey, and that the three of you were alive. They helped me. Once you read the Good Book, you'll understand that we shouldn't be fighting them. This whole planet—the whole universe can be ours."

"They did something to you, Five," I say, feeling sad for Five and horrified by him. "I know they did. It's okay. We can help you."

One lifts her hand up and forms a blue ball of energy. "Just let Three go," she snarls. "We don't want to hurt you."

"Hurt _me_?" repeats Five, laughing. "That's a good one."

He yanks Three out of the water and hurls his body against the gnarled tree. I try to use my telekinesis to stop Three's flight, but it happens to quickly and Five is too powerful. Three smacks spine against the trunk with enough force to shake the uppermost branches. If he wasn't wearing the body armor, then I'm pretty sure he would have broken his back.

"Do you have any idea how dull it was pretending to be weak?" Five asks, his rubbery arm slithering back to his body, appearing normal again. "You were trained by Cêpans, if lucky. Mucking about with your Chests and your Legacies, always in the dark. I was trained by the most powerful fighting force in the universe and you're threatening to hurt me?"

"Pretty much, yeah," replies One as Three gets up from the tree out of Five's view.

He makes a plume of light and compacts it into a photon ball, firing it directly at Five's back. It makes a noise, like a light bulb turning on, and Five turns around, stepping out of the way. Five blows into the flute. The mutant gator, which has been waiting patiently, suddenly leaps into the air and slams its wing into Three's side, sending him flying into the water. Three launches another photon ball, hitting the creature square in its third face, blinding it. He continues leaping out of the way of the creature, shooting it with light plumes that seem to cause it pain. With a mildly entertained look on his face, Five turns to watch Three try to attack his pet monster.

"Don't hurt each other," Five calls to them. "Maybe we can all still be friends."

I'm not sure if he is joking or if he is really that insane. The important part is that he's distracted. I nod at One to go and help Two. The second when she crouches down, One is lifted off the ground. It's Five, again. He's holding her up using telekinesis.

"Stop!" she yells, the ground rumbling and cracking, as she gets angrier and angrier. "Just let me heal her!"

Five shakes his head, disappointed, but at the same time startled by the use of her seismic Legacy. "I—I don't want her healed. She's like Three—she'll never understand. Don't fight me, Number One."

I lift up a rock with my Mana in an attempt to repeat One's Terrakinesis Legacy and hit Five in the side of his face with the rock. He loses his concentration and drops One back to the ground. Five turns to face me as I lift another rock, this one bigger, with the Mana.

Suddenly, Two's eyes snap open, probably using her Telepathy as a way to see what is happening. While she is still on the ground, a jet of water comes slamming into Five's face, filling his nostrils and mouth with water.

"Trust me," she says, in a sort of double voice, her subconscious controlling her body. "I don't need to be conscious to kick your fat ass."

He sighs at her. "Talking shit even when you're knocked out," he says, somehow understanding her subconscious is alert. "Well let's see if your subconscious can process this: somewhere right now, your Cêpans are on a ship's console, learning that I have been with the Mogadorians. Once a Mog ship's console is up and running again, the other Mogadorians will come to look for it, turning your precious little island to rubble."

I suddenly realize something: he likes the sound of his own voice. I can use that to distract him.

"What do the Mogadorians want with them anyway?" I ask.

He merely smiles, and then begins to stalk towards the battle between Three and the mutant. I wish I could get the Chimæra to come help us, but who knows where they are now?

Three has managed to pin down the monster with his telekinesis, crushing its heads. The middle head still works and snaps violently at him. Three manages to catch its jaws with his hands, and wrenches its jaws open until they snap apart. Its head is practically torn in half. The creature then begins to disintegrate.

"Well done!" yells Five, still approaching Three. "But trust me, there's more than that came from. I hope you're not afraid of worms, or dogs, or anything else I decide to add on. That is if you survive today."

Three is about to get out of his body armor and attack until Five's skin turns from normal to steel again.

"So you're going to fight an unarmed man, you traitorous bastard?" asks Three.

Five pushes him back with telekinesis. "Yeah, I am," he says. "And it probably won't be much of a fight."

One tosses me the healing stone and teleports in between the two of them. I begin to heal Two's head, putting a part of my shirt in her mouth to give her something to bite down on. The healing begins, and she starts shaking in pain.

"Come on," I whisper. "Please wake up."

Five has hesitated with One in the way, some of the anger directed at Three going out of him. "Get out of my way, One. My offer still stands, but only if you let me finish off Two and Three."

"You know what I'll have to do to you if you hurt them again," she starts. "You're not thinking straight, Five. They've done something horrible to you. I can tell that you know this isn't right."

Five scoffs. "You want to talk about right? What's right about sending a bunch of children to a strange planet so they can fight in a war they don't even understand? What's right about giving those children names? It's sick."

Once I finish healing Two, I speak up. "So is invading another planet!" I say. "Wiping out entire civilizations!"

"No!" You understand so little," Five replies, laughing. "The Great Expansion had to happen."

"Genocide had to happen?" I yell, opposing everything the Great Book taught me before I joined One. "That's insane!"

"You fight because Cêpans told you that's what your Elders want! Have you ever questioned why? Or who your Elders really are? No, of course not! You just take orders from old men and women and never even question them! And I'm INSANE?!"

"Yeah," growls Three as he releases a plume that sends Five flying backwards. "You really need to listen to yourself. You're confused and deranged. You've been a prisoner for years without realizing it. Now you need to calm the hell down and we can talk about this peacefully."

Five lifts One out of the way and levitates her over to me as he charges at Three. He must have angered him too far, and he lifts his wrist blade to Three's Chest. His hand is closed and I realize that must be where he is holding the metal ball bearing and the rubber ball. I reach out with my Mana and grab his hand.

I focus on prying open his fingers so he'll drop them. He jerks away from Three before the blade even fully extends, surprised, struggling against me.

"His left hand!" I yell. "Help me get it open!"

I can tell by the looks on their faces that they understand, and Two has already begun to focus on the hand. One has as well, and Three was already pushing his hand away with telekinesis. Five screams out in pain and frustration. I can almost feel bad for him in that moment, but we can worry about fixing his screwed-up worldview later. Right now, he needs to be stopped.

"You shouldn't be fighting us," I say. "You're just making it worse."

Five screams louder as his knuckles crack. The small bones in his hand are probably shattered from the combined telekinetic assault. The two balls he was holding drop to the ground and roll beneath the roots of the tree. Five clutches his hand, shifting his qualities from wood to dirt to grass, thrashing at us while holding his hand and sobbing.

"It'll be all right," says One as she touches him on the shoulder trying to be gentle but firm at the same time.

Five sobs, shaking his head. "It wasn't supposed to be like this…" he says quietly.

I walk over to One. All of a sudden, Five gets up off his knees and stares at us, seeing we have him surrounded. "I know what you're trying to do!" He says, extending the blade from his wrist. "You're trying to make me feel weak and then attack me!"

When I try to touch him on the shoulder to calm him down, the blade swings out wildly, and I am immediately sure that it stabs me in the chest. Only it doesn't hit me…it hits One!

Five's blade drives right into where One's heart is.

He lurches backwards, shocked, as he realizes what he's done. One's eyes are wide, a spot of blood forming on her chest. She staggers away from Five, towards me, her hands outstretched. I take her hands in mine as she tries to say something, but no words come out. She collapses in my arms, her eyes closing peacefully. My hair blows upward and I can smell electricity in the air. I lay her down gently as a powerful energy surges through me. It is much more powerful than my Mana, or than anything I have felt before. The ground rumbles underneath my feet with One's Legacy.

I don't know whether or not she is alive or dead. She isn't breathing, but every now and then her body emits a weak heartbeat. I grab the healing stone from Two, but then hesitate. If the pain of healing is twice that of the injury, then it could kill her just by healing.

Just a few yards away, Five is shouting but I don't care what he's saying. Three has fallen silent in a state of shock. Two is still trying to make sense of what exactly happened. Everything has fallen apart.

"It was an accident!" Five babbles. "I didn't mean to do that! Adamus, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it!"

"Be quiet," I hiss.

In the distance, I can hear the dreaded hum of a Mogadorian ship's engine. The tall grass around us begins blowing wildly as the silver vessel starts descending from the sky. This was all just a set up orchestrated by Five, so of course he'd have backup waiting.

I feel a hand on my shoulder. I whip around to find Five standing over me. I stand up in front of him and he falls to the ground, scared for his life.

"It doesn't have to be this way," he says, holding his right hand in front of him, pleading with me. "This was a horrible mistake, I know that! But everything I said is the truth."

He's insane—insane just to continue on with this bull about being on the winning side. Every step I take towards him leaves a deep crack in the ground, and small rocks start to levitate around me with One's Terrakinesis. "Shut up," I warn him.

"You—you can't win, Adam!" he continues. "You're better off coming with me, back to your people. You—you—" I can feel Five trying to push me away with his telekinesis, but I feel a power within me that cancels the telekinesis, just like what Ivan did to One in Kenya. "What are you doing?"

Suddenly, the ground begins to contort, bulging in different places. The Mog ship is closer in view, and I create a giant stalactite that stabs straight through the hull of the ship, causing an explosion that should kill everyone on board. I then begin to launch large boulders at Five, each one a direct hit. I open the ground below his foot. Once he falls down into the ground, I close the ground again, crushing his right foot. He screams out in pain, begging for me to stop, but I don't care. I begin firing out balls of energy. Small fragments of the energy hit him in the face, and one of them burns straight through one of his eyes. He falls to the ground awkwardly with his injured foot.

"Adam," he begs, "please stop…"

"Why?" I ask while picking him up by the throat, feeling stronger than ever, infuriated why I am even showing him any mercy by letting him live. "Just so you can go home to your Mog friends? Is that what you want? Just so more of us can die because of _you_?!"

I throw him back on the ground and begin to beat him. No more trying to protect the Loric. Number Five will die.

"Stop!" says Two. "You'll—"

"I know!" I say, creating a crack in the earth, water and mud flowing into it. I hold him above it. "This is the only thing aside from the Mogadorians who deserves to die!"

"I understand that, but he is one of us!" she says, not asking me to spare him, but angry enough towards him to let him survive. "We don't decide that. If anything, the Cêpans decide!"

"So what?" I ask. "We just take Number Five back and wait for them to decide what do with him?"

"No," she says. "Banish him."

I stare at her in disbelief. I really agree with that idea, but I really just want to know how.

"Use your teleportation," she says, reading my mind. "One transferred her Legacies to you."

"Is she still alive?" I ask.

Two stares at her for a few seconds, and then nods slowly. "I don't know how, but her soul isn't there. I mean, she is still alive, and so is her soul, it just isn't there at the moment, like she is somewhere else. It must be some sort of Loric trance that probably happened from the shock of Five stabbing her."

I turn back to him. His face is terrified, missing his left eye, and I hold him out farther into the crevice. "If I see you again, you traitorous bastard," I say, "I'll take the other bitching eye!"

My mind floods of places to send him, and it ends with the first thing I think of. I give his Legacies back and teleport him to his destination.

"Where'd you send him?" asks Three.

"Beijing, China," I reply. "Come on, we need to get back to the Egg and see if everyone is alright."

I look at One's motionless body and kneel down to kiss her on the forehead. "Please wake up soon."

When we get back, the island is perfectly fine, except for a few more ships that have crashed. We saw an aircraft carrier headed this way, so we'll probably be leading the island soon.

We land right next to camp.

When Hilde sees One's limp body, her eyes are wide with tears. "What happened?"

I'm too in shock to speak. I never thought about how Hilde would react, but then Two speaks up.

"We were lured into a trap by Number Five," she says. "He's a traitor. It saddens me to say this, but he's a traitor. We defeated him, but he stabbed One in the chest, supposedly by accident. Adam banished him by turning off his Legacies and teleporting him away to Beijing. He saved our lives."

"Wait," Conrad exclaims. "Adam _teleported_ him away and turned off his Legacies?"

"Before One went unconscious," I begin, "she transferred her Legacies to me, somehow."

"Her soul isn't here at the moment," says Two. "I can't find it in her body, or anywhere, even with my Telepathy."

"She is in a Xiap Coma," says Hilde. "It's when powerful Garde detach themselves from their bodies during times of crisis."

"Xiap?" I ask.

"Loric term for peace," says Three. "How come none of you told us about this before?"

They don't answer. Nacht changes the subject by looking at the echolocation scanner inside the Egg. "We've got to keep moving," he says. "An aircraft carrier is heading this way, probably military. If we leave now, we can get ahead of it."

"Would it be safe for us to move One's body?" I ask.

"It should be," says Kentra. "Her soul will return to the places where the body was until it finds her."

I look at Korrbin. "Are you okay with leaving here after you've lived on this island for so long?" I ask.

He sighs. "Listen, if you're all going around the world to find the other Garde that came down with you, I'm in," he says. "I'm doing this for Lorien, and I'll do whatever it takes to bring my home back, and keep you guys safe."

"I'm coming as well," says Nacht. "I mean, we are the last remaining Loric on Earth, correct? I think it is time for each of us to stop fighting and to take the fight to them."

We take the yacht, but bring the Egg as well, for quick transport. Who knows what other numbers are out there waiting to be found?

**Elsewhere…**

_I wake up in a large bedroom, the blue Loralite pendant around my neck. The room is curved at the ceiling and is lined in gold. I get out of the bed and put on a robe that is waiting for me in a large closet. In the mirror, I see that I am older than before, by at least four years. I walk down the clean hallway, all of it pristine. Once I get to what looks like a throne room, there are eight other people who enter at the same time, all of them Loric. I can tell. Each of them is around 25-35, but I recognize each of them immediately. One of them is a redheaded woman whom I remember as Maggie. Another is a dark-skinned man whom I remember as Hannu. There is another person, a man with a chubbier figure, with a golden patch covering his left eye, and I can distinctively tell that he is Number Five. The other people in the room: a large man with long black hair, a man with the appearance of that of an Indian human, a young tanned woman with short hair, and a lady with eyes that change color in the two sun's—one sun being closer than the other—light. We sit on our large thrones, waiting for someone. No words are spoken, but we acknowledge each other somehow. Our thrones are on a balcony that looks out over the verdant landscape. It is Lorien, of course._

_Just then, a tall blond man walks in and takes a seat on his throne. All of this has happened before, but never occurred again. I remember getting on the spaceship to Earth, staying there for over a decade, and then heading back to Lorien. All of that happened 10,000 years from now._

**The End…No, no. I'm totally kidding, guys. I'm not just going to end it after 11 chapters—I have a reputation here. You liked how I threw in a little **_**Inception**_** confusion there at the end of the chapter? I'm sorry to say, but I'm not completely differentiating from the Lorien Legacies book series, so Number Five will still be a traitor. This is the temporary end for this unit of the story. Later it'll be onto Four, Six, Sam, the other Cêpans, and the other Garde. There will be a few cuts in between stories about One's dreamscape if I don't have time to write a full chapter. Speaking of which, this was one of the longest chapters I have ever written, and it was written in the shortest amount of time. I would have posted it yesterday, but the cable and Internet stopped working until 11:30 p.m. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll try and post the next one ASAP. Bye!**


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